From Ember To Fire
by Kae Aleah
Summary: The One Ring wasn't the only thing that came from the hot fires of Mount Doom. A strange woman came from beneath the lava pit with hair as red as the fires themselves. As timid as she was, her true existence should have died out a very long time ago. But with a living shadow moving around in the dark, this woman found it enclosing in on her during an unexpected journey.
1. Born of Fire

**BORN OF FIRE**

The scarlet fire crackled like mad and the lava boiled intently like hot water in a pan. The Orcs screeched like banshees and crowded around the base of the volcano and stared down into the bubbling pit of magma, squirming with anticipation and shoving each other aside to get a look themselves. Some sneered and others even went so far as to threaten one another.

A scream pierced through the hot air of Mount Doom and a pale hand shot out from the lava that made all the Orcs fidget even closer to the edge. The hand flapped around in the magma pit till it grabbed a hold of the edge where all the orcs were standing. The scream was muffled from underneath the thick liquid till the shrilling voice of a woman broke through with scarlet hair as red as the lava. The woman who pulled herself out and was deadly pale with not a single burn on her perfect skin. What ran underneath though were strange ashen veins that covered all over her body. Her hair wrapped around her body like a shroud to keep her modesty while the ends were still swimming in the lava.

The Orcs inched closer to the woman. She said nothing and her head was to the ground. One Orc inched a bit to close and caused the rocks below him to shuffle a bit. The woman's head snapped up. It was all too fast to witness when she suddenly grabbed the sword that was at his side and slashed across his body. The Orc didn't even make a sound and wasn't even sure if he was cut...till the upper half of his body slid off his torso and onto the floor. The others scurried away from the woman and gave out this frightful shriek.

The fire incarnated woman looked at them with deranged, wild eyes that weren't black as coal, but as blue as the clear sky. She hissed out a low growling voice. "**Do not...touch...me!"** She said in a foul tongue that only made her voice sound rough and raw sounding. Her whole being burned hotter than the volcano and absolutely no one could utter a single word to her. They could only gaze upon her hair as it danced in the hot winds like scarlet flames, like a crown of fire upon her head.

Inside the heart of Mount Doom, birth a woman with hair as red as the lava poles themselves. This was different from what anyone could foretell or even imagine. The heat raiding off her body was not like how it used to be but doubts were true in the end when the ashen veins covering her body disappeared, and they knew...that this wasn't meant to happen. She acted like a wounded animal and lashed out at all who would approach her, sometimes even hiding like a frightened child. Her eyes were deranged and stained with fear and hidden malice. This woman was an anomaly, something that took the place of an old entity. She was something that shouldn't have come into Middle-earth. Something that shouldn't...exist.


	2. Scarlet

**SCARLET**

Valnora Forest was the name of the thickest and darkest woods in Middle-earth, so tense that even the sun wasn't able to bleed through the brush of trees. It was even able to fool the mind into thinking that the sun had set despite it still being mid-day. All was dark to anyone who wasn't familiar with these woods, yet it was still one of the safest places in the lands. For though it was dark, it wasn't near as ominous enough to where evil would be able to creep into. The darkness was just honest and natural. The sun did, however, was able to shine its golden rays upon one place in the forest: the heart of the woods where a small white cottage laid, overgrown with rose vines and honeysuckle plants.

A young woman wandered the inside of the small home and sat down on the table where a sealed letter waited for her. She broke the into it and unfolded the letter where it read:

_My Dear Jeanne,_

_It surely has been a long time, old friend, and it has brought me great pleasure to ask this of you to come on an unexpected adventure with a group of merry Dwarves to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. It may be dangerous but I'm sure it won't be to much trouble. I understand that you may be afraid of stepping out of Valnora Forest, for the world to see you, but you can't stay hidden and run away from your problems forever. Trust me, I truly believe that this will change you for the better. If you wish to come, then come to the Shire. I assure you, you won't regret it._

_From an old friend,_

_Gandalf the Grey_

* * *

It was like any other night in the comfortable and homey Hobbit-hole that belonged to Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit of the Shire. The kitchen was lit with very few candles with the smell of freshly grilled fish in the air. He grilled up his nice and fresh fish and laid it upon his plate before sitting down at the table. Bilbo grabbed a napkin and stuffed it down his shirt to prevent a mess. He grabbed a lemon and squeezed the juice over the fish when the sound of the doorbell went off, stopping him in his tracks with a mildly annoyed look on his face.

Bilbo opened the door to see who the mysterious knocker was but saw quite the intimidating Dwarf on the other side with his back turned.

The Dwarf turned and introduced himself in a rough voice. "Dwalin, at your service." He bowed a bit to the confused Hobbit.

Bilbo was taken back and just shocked to see a Dwarf that he never saw before standing on his mat. Being the polite Hobbit he was, he wrapped his robe and stuttered on his words a bit before introducing himself. "Bilbo Baggins, at yours." Dwalin stepped in. "Do we know each other?" He asked.

Dwalin just gave him a look and uttered a single and confident answer. "No." He pulled off his cloak. "Which way, laddie? Is it down here?"

"Is what down where?" Bilbo said, still confused.

"Supper." Dwalin passed him his cloak. "He said there'd be food and lots of it." He marched down to the kitchen.

"He- He said? Who said?"

**DING**

When Bilbo opened the door for the second time this night, he saw a Dwarf once more, much older then Dwalin on his now muddy mat.

The elderly Dwarf smiled politely. "Balin, at your service." He spread his arms out and bowed before the even more bewildered Hobbit.

"Good evening," Bilbo said, barely able to get it out as calmly as he could.

"Yes. Yes, it is." Balin agreed whole-heartedly and glanced up at the night sky before he stepped in. "Though I think it might rain later. Am I late?" He asked.

Bilbo stared at the Dwarf and tried to find an answer across his face. "Late for what?"

Balin glanced over and saw Dwalin trying to jimmy his hand into the cookie jar, though having difficulty. "Oh!" He laughed and walked over to the Dwarf. "Evening, brother."

Dwalin chuckled and set the jar down. "By my beard...You're shorter and wider than last we met." He said.

"Wider, not shorter. Sharp enough for both of us." Balin winked and they both laughed. Dwalin placed his hands on Balin's shoulders and laughed before suddenly head-butting him, though Balin was unfazed and only laughed louder.

Bilbo walked up to the Dwarf reunion. "Uh, excuse me? Sorry, I hate to interrupt. But the thing is, I'm not entirely sure you're in the right house." Bilbo rambled on as the Dwarves made themselves comfortable in his pantry. "It's not that I don't like visitors. I like visitors as much as the next Hobbit. But I do like to know them before they come visiting." Bilbo continued to talk as the Dwarves messed around in the pantry and questioned whether the cheese was old or not, being blue and covered in mold in all. "The thing is, I don't know either of you. Not in the slightest. I don't mean to be blunt, but I had to speak my mind. I'm sorry."

Both Dwalin and Balin stopped their ransacking of the pantry to turn to Bilbo.

"Apology accepted," Balin said before they went back to what they were doing.

The doorbell went off again for the third time and the sound of it made Bilbo's stomach turn left, right and totally shrivel up. Bilbo went and reluctantly opened the door and whimpered when he saw two more Dwarves, rather young and handsome ones too.

"Fili."

"And Kili."

They both bowed at the same time. "At your service." They said.

"You must be Mr. Boggins." Kili said incorrectly with a wide smile.

"Nope!" Bilbo insisted. "You can't come in. You've come to the wrong house." He tried to shut the door but Kili immediately stopped him.

"What? Has it been canceled?" He said, almost concerned.

"No one told us," Fili said and stepped up.

"Canceled? No, nothing's been canceled." Bilbo questioned them.

"That's a relief." They barged through the door and right into his once quiet and peaceful home now riddled with Dwarves. His doormat was now beyond recovery.

"Careful with these." Fili handed his weapons over to a stunned Bilbo. "I just had them sharpened."

Stunned wasn't even close to the feeling that washed over Bilbo. He was just too shocked as more and more weapons piled on to him by Fili.

"It's nice, this place," Kili said after getting a quick look around. "Did you do it yourself?"

"What?" Bilbo said. "No, it's been in the family for years." He then saw Kili scraping the mud off his boots on a box. "That's my mother's glory box. Can you please not do that?"

Dwalin then stepped in. "Fili, Kili. Come on, give us a hand." He wrapped his arm around Kili as Fili followed from behind.

Kili smiled. "Mr. Dwalin." He laughed.

They stepped into the kitchen where Balin gave them orders to shove the table into the hallway for the others to fit in.

That caught Bilbo's attention. "'Everyone?' How many more are there?" The dreaded doorbell went off for the fourth time tonight. Bilbo huffed and threw the weapons in his hands on the ground. "Oh, no. No. No. There's nobody home! Go away and bother somebody else." He angrily marched over to the door. "There are far too many Dwarves in my dining room as it is. If this is some clot-head's idea of a bag joke...I can only say it is in very poor taste." Bilbo grabbed the door handle and ripped it opened, fully ready to start ranting and raving to a Dwarf on the other side, but was caught off guard from what he actually saw.

At first, he thought it was a Dwarf by the small height of 5'1, but it was clearly a young woman on the other side, looking quite shocked at his sudden outburst. She wore quite a lovely dark gray and red dress. Her overcoat was gray with a twisted hood over her head and her dress was a deep red shade the dragged across the ground as she walked. In her hand was a wooden staff where the wood began to twist upwards like an unbloomed flower. What really stood out though was her pale white skin. The lady reached her hand up and pulled her hood off her head, revealing short, messy, and very bright scarlet hair. Bilbo was shocked, to say the least. He never saw such red and vibrant hair in all his life. It was like fire in his eyes. He thought it was for a moment till he got a better look.

She stared at the Hobbit with big blue eyes that shimmered with curiosity before a smile came to her lips. "Evening." She said in a soft yet chipper voice. The woman stepped through the door and shut it behind her. "You must be the one holding the meeting place, no?" she placed her staff against the wall before facing Bilbo. "Jeanne, at your service." She bowed her head slightly.

Bilbo let out a breath. He didn't know whether he should be shocked or relieved since he fully expected a Dwarf on the other side, but what he really got surprised him. By the staff in her hand was obvious that she was a Wizard. Still shocked at the woman standing before him, he couldn't help to introduce himself. "B...Bilbo Baggins."

The doorbell rang once more for the fifth time of the night, and the sound just made Bilbo feel cold. The woman, Jeanne stared at Bilbo and wondered if he was going to answer the door, but he just looked pale in the face. She reached out and grasped the golden doorknob herself and opened it wide. At least a group of 8 more Dwarves fell through the open door and began to shout and grumble at each other to get off.

"Oh, my." Jeanne stepped away from the pile of Dwarves and looked up when she saw a tall figure on the other side of the door.

Bilbo recognized the figure's tall and pointed hat and let out a sigh. "Gandalf."

Gandalf leaned down and looked through the doorway. A smile then stretched across his face when he saw his old friend. "Jeanne, it appears that my letter arrived."

A laughed escaped Jeanne's lips. "Gandalf, you have a lot of explaining to do."


	3. Quest Through Fire

**QUEST THROUGH FIRE**

Jeanne let at a lighthearted laugh as she stood off to the side and watched as the Dwarves walked in and out of the pantry and totally ransacking all the food from in it, leaving nothing but crumbs left on the shelves.

Gandalf stood in the middle of the run between the dining hall and the pantry and counted all the Dwarves on his fingers to make sure all of them were present, but he came up short. "We appear to be one Dwarf short." He said.

"He is late, is all," Dwalin said with a stern of ale in his hand. "He traveled north to a meeting of our kin. He will come."

Jeanne felt a pit in her stomach when she heard THAT Dwarf wasn't yet present. She took a breath and looked down at her arms, instinctively searching for something beneath the skin when a voice called out.

"Miss Jeanne." Dori came up to her with a tray of two cups. "May I tempt you with a cup of chamomile?" he said as he poured some into a cup.

Jeanne smiled shortly. "Why thank you, Dori." she took a cup and held it to her lips, just hoping for some kind of relief that will make her stomach settle down.

* * *

Bilbo looked to his pantry that was once stocked high with good quality food, now nothing but crumbs and dust on the shelves. The Dwarves immediately started to dig their hands into the massive trays of food, all while chatting nonstop among themselves, generally being loud yet cheerful. The only time they were ever quiet was when they were drinking ale and pouring half of it in their beards and down their chests. When supper was over they all migrated to the living room where they crowded around the fireplace and whipped their mouths with doilies.

Bilbo stomped his foot into the ground. "Bebother and confusticates these Dwarves!"

Gandalf's tall figure walked over to the frustrated Hobbit. "My dear Bilbo, what on earth is the matter?"

"What's the matter? I'm surrounded by Dwarves. What are they doing here?"

Jeanne's light laugh was heard beside Bilbo as he turned his head and saw the scarlet hair first."They are quite the merry gathering once you get used to them." She said with a chipper voice. Bilbo flinched because he thought it was fire at first

Bilbo tried to take a deep calming breath. "I don't want to get used to them. Look at the state of my kitchen. There's mud trod into the carpet. They pillaged the pantry. I won't tell you what they've done in the bathroom. They've all but destroyed the plumbing. I don't understand what they're doing in my house!" Bilbo's face was flushed red at this time of his meltdown.

Ori then walked up to the frustrated Hobbit with a plate in hand. "Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?"

Fili came up to Ori and grabbed his plate. "Here you go, Ori. Give it to me."

Fili then suddenly chucked the plate over to Kili one after another before he passed it into the kitchen where Bifur was washing the dishes. With each one being thrown. Bilbo was having a heart attack and was pale in the face while Gandalf and Jeanne stepped aside away from the line of plates being thrown all the while the Dwarves were singing:

Blunt the knives, bend the forks

Smash the bottles and burn the corks

Chips the glasses and crack the plates

That's what Bilbo Baggins hates

Cut the cloth, trad on the fat

leave the bones on the bedroom mat

pour the milk on the pantry floor

smash the wine on every door

Dump the crocks in the boiling bowl

pound them up with a thumping pole

When you're finished, if they are whole

send them down the hall to roll

That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!

They laughed among each other and Bilbo had no room to complain, for all the dishes were all clear and none broke or married without a single crack. Jeanne wrapped her arms up in her sleeves and smiled at the Dwarves, but all the peace was soon snuffed when there were three loud pounds on the door that caused everyone to fall silent and look to the door.

"He is here," Gandalf said grimly.

When the door was opened they saw on the other side, a Dwarf. He turned his head when the door opened and spoke in a deep baritone voice "Gandalf." he said and stepped in. "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice." He took his cloak off. "I wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."

The sound of his voice made Jeanne's shiver and move to the side away, out of sight of the Dwarf and look to the ground.

Bilbo raised a brow. "Mark? There's no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago." He huffed.

Gandalf quickly shut the door. "There is a mark. I put it there myself." He then looked to Jeanne. "Jeanne, Come." He gestured to her. Jeanne snapped her head up when her name was called out and found all eyes on her. Her face turned pale and her feet were frozen in place. Gandalf picked up on her nervousness quickly. "Allow me to introduce the leader of our company: Thorin Oakenshield."

Thorn looked at the woman and studied her for a bit. A smirk came to his face while Jeanne remained frozen. "You...have quite the mess of scarlet hair."

The sound of his voice directed towards her made Jeanne snap out of her frozen state of mind. "Ah, thank...you?" Her voice came out like a quiet mouse.

"You really are quite young looking as well." His words made the Dwarves around him chuckle as they all moved into the kitchen.

Bilbo and Gandalf weren't the only ones who saw it. Jeanne felt it too, in her heart and how it ached.

Bilbo spoke up. "That was not a compliment...was it." He looked to Gandalf who looked grim.

Jeanne took a deep sigh and stared at the ground with his words still playing in her head. She looked back to Gandalf but didn't say a word. Gandalf patted her shoulder to comfort her before they moved into the kitchen to join the party.

* * *

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin?" Balin asked as they sat around Thorin in the dining hall. "Did they all come?"

"Aye." Thorin nodded. "Envoys from all Seven Kingdoms."

"And what of the Dwarves of the Iron Hill say?" Dwalin asked and he stared at Thorin with anticipation. "Is Dain with us?"

Thorin took a moment to let the room fall into silence before expressing the bad news in a low voice that made Jeanne's chest rumble with worry. "They will not come." The room was filled with mumbles of disappointment. "They say this quest is ours and ours alone." He took his stern of ale as Bilbo spoke up.

"You're going on a quest?"

Gandalf looked over his shoulder to where his new little friend was standing. "Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." Gandalf brought out a folded up paper from his robes. "Far to the east...over ranges and rivers...beyond woodlands and wastelands...lies a single, solitary peak." He placed a map down on the table for all Dwarves to see.

Jeanne felt a shiver down her spine when she moved around Gandalf's side to look at the map. She saw a mountain upon the old and yellow paper that had what looks to be a dragon hovering above it. It wasn't long until she felt her skin began to burn a little. Jeanne looked down at her hand and slowly lifted her sleeve to see nothing. She sighed in relief.

Dear Bilbo walked over to the table an shown his candlelight over the map. "'The lonely mountain'." He read.

"Aye, Oin had read the portents." Gloin began. "And the portents say it is time."

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountains, as it was foretold," Oin said. "When the birds of yore return to Erebor...the reign of the beast will end," he said mysteriously.

That caught Bilbo's attention. "Uh, what beast?"

"Well, that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible." Bofur began to explain lightly despite the severity of the situation. "Chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne Fire-breather. Teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks. Extremely fond und of precious metals."

"Yes, I know what a dragon is." Bilbo cut in with a weak voice as he squirmed around in his own skin.

Ori bounced up from his own seat. "I'm not afraid. I'm up for it. I'll give him a taste of Dwarfish iron right up his jacksie!" Dori then suddenly yanked him back down.

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us," Balin said grimly. "But we number just 13. And not 13 of the best..not brightest.

Grumbles of complaints and insults spread across the room like wildfire, but Jeanne found the concern in Balin's words. She's no expert in any means and wishes to not downsize anyone, but for a quest like this...it be true danger.

"We may be few in numbers," Fili spoke up through the crowd. "But we're fighters, all of us, to the last Dwarf."

"And you forget, we have two Wizards in our company. Gandalf and Miss Jeanne would have killed hundreds of dragons in their time." Kili said.

All their heads snapped over to the Wizards, about made Jeanne jumped out of her seat with all this attention on her. She instinctively pulled her sleeves over her hands and wished for nothing more than the earth to open up and swallow her whole, for no dragons of any kind were slain by her hands much less Gandalf as far as she knows.

"Oh, well, no. Neither us would say-" Gandalf spoke up.

"How many, then?" Dori cut in.

"What?" Jeanne snapped her head up and looked like she was caught in a difficult scene to explain. She was as pale as a ghost and she swore her heart was going to stop on her chest.

"Well, how many dragons have you killed?"

Thorin turned his head to Jeanne as she slowly sank down in her seat. Gandalf even began to cough on the smoke he was inhaling. The small and cramped room broke out in incoherent shouts once again with people rising up from their seats and talking over one another.

Thorin's low voice came out like a crack of thunder and caused all the Dwarves in the room to shut their mouths tight. It about made Jeanne have a heart attack too since she was sitting right next to him. "If we have read these signs...do you not think others will have read them too? Rumors have begun to spread. The dragon, Smaug, had not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look east to the mountain, assessing...wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or so we seize this chance to take back Erebor?"

This man had a power, our young Jeanne noticed. His words seemed harsh but hold a thick and painful amount of truth. His charisma seemed bottomless and moved the hearts of these Dwarves to strife forward despite the high risk. In Jeanne's heart...she felt it being weighed heavy and shame-filled in the presence of this man, knowing the low opinion that he already held to her.

"You forget, the Front Gate is sealed." Balin reminded him. "There is no way into the mountain." His head was cast down.

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true," Gandalf said and like magic, swiftly brought out an key in his hand.

Thorin's eyes gleamed upon the sight like he knew exactly what it was. "How came you by this?" He whispered lowly.

"It was given to me by your father. By Thrain. For safekeeping. It is yours now." He handed the key over to the young Dwarf prince who stared at it with wonder and a spark of hope in his eyes.

"If there is a key...there must be a door." Fili realized.

Gandalf pointed his pipe down at the map where there were unreadable words. "These runes speak of a hidden passage to the Lower Halls."

Jeanne ran her fingers through her crimson hair. "So...there's another way in."

"Well, if we can find it, my dear Jeanne." Gandalf reminded.

Jeanne frowned. "I'm quite aware that Dwarf doors are invisible when closed."

"The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map, and neither Jeanne and I have the skill to find it. But there is another in Middle-earth who can. The talk I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth...and no small amount of courage." Gandalf's eyes shifted to Bilbo. "But if we are careful and clever, I believe that it can be done."

"That's why we need a burglar," Ori said.

Bilbo nodded. "And a good one too. An expert, I'd imagine."

"And are you?" Gloin asked.

Bilbo blinked and glanced over his shoulder. He then realized he was talking about him. "Am I what?"

"He said he's an expert. Hey." Oin, who had bad hearing, said.

Bilbo went pale. "Me? No. No, no, no. I'm not a burglar. I've never stolen a thing in my life."

Balin eyed him. "Well, I'm afraid I have to agree with Mr. Baggins. He's hardly burglar material."

"Aye, the Wild is no place for gentlefolk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." Dwalin only agreed more.

It was clear at the first glance that Bilbo wasn't a burglar in any sort. He was a Hobbit, a gentle creature, so it wasn't any kind of surprise that these Dwarves would agree with him.

Gandalf began to rise from his seat as his voice became loud and menacing. A large shadow began to cast inside the room. "If I say Bilbo Baggins in a burglar, then a burglar he is." His frightening voice caused the room to fill with silence once again. "Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most. If they choose. And, while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of Dwarf. The scent of a Hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage. You asked me to find the 14th and 15th member of this company and I have chosen an old friend of mine...and Mr. Baggins. There a lot more to both of them than appearances suggest. And they got a great deal more to offer than any of you know."

Jeanne frowned and tugged on Gandalf's robe to stop his talk about her. It only made Jeanne feel worse about this whole situation. "Let's stop there." She reached inside her long sleeve and pulled out a piece of paper. "Now, I was the last one to sign the contract so I have it with me right now." She rose up from her seat and face down the Hobbit. Bilbo's eyes got so wide, Jeanne feared that his little heart might just stop. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'll read it for you."

Thorin leaned in close to Gandalf and began to whisper "I cannot guarantee their safety."

"Understood." Gandalf agreed.

"Nor will I be responsible for his fate...neither the girl's."

Jeanne slowly glanced her blue eyes over her shoulder and peered through her mess of crimson hair to stare at Thorin.

Gandalf looked up to Jeanne as she pulled her eyes away. "Agreed, but...do not underestimate Jeanne...she is more then meets the eye." His words carried a deeper meaning that caused Thorin to look up to the crimson one with skeptical eyes.

Jeanne held her breath and began to read out for Bilbo. "'Terms: Cash on delivery, up to but not exceeding one fourteenth of total profit, if any.'" She looked up. "Are you following?"

Bilbo shrugged. "Seems fair."

"Okay. 'Present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or substandard as consequence thereof, including, but not limited to..." she squinted her eyes. "'Laceration?" She questioned the name and looked over to the Dwarves who were just as confused. "No. Just a moment. Evisceration?" She founded that the top page unfolded once more. "Oh. Incineration." She nodded then blinked as everything began to click for her. "Pardon?"

Bilbo looked pale. "Incineration?"

Bofur nodded. "Aye. He'll melt the flesh off your bones in a blink of an eye."

Bilbo looked faint and gave off a small whimper.

Jeanne inched closer to him. "Are you all right?"

Bilbo nodded. "Yes, yes. Ah. Did you say your name was Jeanne?" Bilbo suddenly asked.

"Aye. That is it."

"Great. Great. Jeanne...would you...you know. Ah..." He dropped and Jeanne leaped for him and they both fell to the ground.

* * *

**Remember to review this chapter about what you think so far about our scarlet haired Jeanne!**


	4. An Unexpected Adventure

**AN UNEXPECTED ADVENTURE**

Jeanne gave small Bilbo a look with worried eyes as she passed a hot cup of tea towards him while he sat in his comfy chair beside a burning fireplace.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked and sat across from him.

"I'll be all right. Just let me sit quietly for a moment."

"You've been sitting quietly for far too long." Gandalf protested with a smoking pipe in his hand. "Tell me, when did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you? I remember a young Hobbit who was always running off in search of Elves in the woods. Who would stay out late, come home after dark, trailing mud and twigs and fireflies. A young Hobbit who would have liked nothing better than to find out what was beyond the borders of the Shire. The world is not in your books and maps. It's out there." He gestured to the dark blue window where the sun has already made its descent beyond the hills.

"I can't just go running off into the blue." Bilbo shot back. "I am a Baggins of Bag-end."

Jeanne frowned. "It makes it sound like you're shackled to this place." She said with a slight smile. "It's your life, yes, but...what is the point of you can't take some risks."

"Jeanne is right." Gandalf smiled proudly at her. "Did you know that your great-great-great-great-uncle Bullroarer Took was so large, he could ride a real horse?"

"Yes."

"Yes, well, he could. In the Battle of Green Fields, he charged at the Goblin ranks. He swung his club so hard, he knocked the Goblin king's head clean off and it sailed 100 yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole. And thus, the battle was won. And the game of golf invented at the same time."

Jeanne frowned and looked up at him.

Bilbo shook his head. "I do believe you made that up."

Gandalf grabbed a chair and pulled it over. "Well, all good stories deserve embellishment. You'll have a tale or two to tell your own when you come back."

Bilbo scoffed. "Can you promise me that I will come back?"

Gandalf turned a bit grim. "No. And if you do...you will not be the same."

"That's what I thought." Bilbo sighed deeply and set his mug down. "Sorry, Gandalf, I can't sign this." He got up. "You've got the wrong Hobbit." he turned around and left the room.

Jeanne's eyes cast down to the burning fire. "I am not surprised that Bilbo wouldn't want to do something like this. The risk is rather high."

Gandalf gave a weak smile and chuckle a bit. "My dear Jeanne, why did you decide to partake in this adventure?" He knew Jeanne for a very long time and knew she hadn't set foot outside Valnora forest for over...who known how many years anymore.

Jeanne rolled up her sleeve and showed off her untouched white skin. She twisted her wrist around and just stared at it. "We all know that this body should have died a long time ago, yet I am still here. I'm sorry, Gandalf." She lowered her hand and sighed. "I didn't come here for anyone else's sake, but only for myself."

Gandalf knew that more then anyone and couldn't help to smile. "Your existence is a fragile one and a miracle too. You have to look out for yourself more than others. But for the next few months...I'm glad that you are here."

She got up from her chair and walked out of the room. She caught at the corner of her eyes, Thorin's piercing gaze burning into her. Jeanne smiled and closed her eyes as this low humming sound began to echo out from the Dwarves as they sang until dawn broke.

* * *

Bilbo's sleepy eyes finally broke open into the next day. He felt the sun on his face and heard the pleasant sound of the birds chirping, yet no Dwarves. It was quiet, to quiet for them. He got up from the bed and peeked his head around his hole and saw that everything was back in its place with nothing damaged like it was, to begin with. Still, no Dwarves.

"Hello?" Bilbo called out but silence only carried his voice. He felt relief as he walked through his now peaceful home before this bitterness sank into his skin when he found that the contract was still lying beside the fireplace where he last saw it. He saw Thorin's name, Gandalf, and Jeanne's printed right below the long list with one spot still open, the burglar's spot where his name should have been.

* * *

Bilbo busted out of his home on the green grass hills where the sun pierced his eyes. He had a pack on and was waving around the contact as he ran through the Shire as people gave him odd looks.

"Mr. Bilbo, where are you off too?" Someone called out to him as Bilbo ran.

"Can't stop, I'm already late!" He called back without stopping.

"Late for what?"

The biggest grin crept to Bilbo's face. "I'm going on an adventure!" Without stopping and without looking back, Bilbo left the Shire, his home behind.

The party was already making it through the thick woods on horseback when Bilbo's voice called out for them.

"Wait! Wait!"

Jeanne looked over her shoulder and saw young Bilbo running up to them. She smiled and let out a laugh. "Well, well. This is quite a pleasant surprise." She glanced over to Thorin and saw that he was surprised too, though most of it hidden behind a stoic mask.

"I signed it." Bilbo waved the contract around before handing it to Balin. "Here."

Balin smiled and looked at the signature with a glass. "Everything appears to be in order." He spoke cheerfully. "Welcome, Master Baggins...to the company of Thorin Oakenshield." There were some claps and even laughed spread across the party.

Thorin shook his head. "Give him a pony."

Bilbo immediately felt worry in his tight chest. "No, no, that won't be necessary. Thank you. I'm sure I can keep up on foot." He rambled on when it was obvious he never rode a horse before when Fili and Kili grabbed him as they passed by.

* * *

Bilbo sat stiffly on the pony he was given and held the reins and his arms up way too high. Every time the horse would neigh too he would flinch. Jeanne was even trying to help him how to handle a pony too.

Bilbo noticed that the Dwarves began to pass pouches of money back and forth with each other. "What's that about?" He asked.

"Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you'd turn up," Gandalf explained. "Most of them bet that you wouldn't."

"And what did you think?" Bilbo asked the elderly Wizard.

."Well..." Suddenly Gandalf caught a pouch of money that came flying at him. He laughed. "My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second."

Bilbo suddenly hunched over and sneezes. "It's horse hair. Having a reaction." He grumbled and searched around for a handkerchief. "No, wait, wait, stop!" He called to the party as they came to a halt. "Stop! We have to turn around."

Jeanne frowned. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I forgot my handkerchief," Bilbo said in a bit of a panic.

"Here." Bofur then suddenly chuck an old looking rag over to Bilbo. "Use this."

Bilbo flinched when he felt the wet and grimy rag in his hand and didn't dare to smell it.

Thorin ordered the company to continue and they carried on.

Bilbo would have to get used to not having things like a handkerchief, for the world outside the little hills of the Shire was much more rough living than anything he could possibly imagine. From heavy rainfall that would only cease for an hour, and the steep, rocky trails that were laid out in front of them.

* * *

The night time was not kind to Jeanne and she found it hard to sleep with this heavy sensation in her chest that made her skin burn. Bilbo couldn't sleep either with Bombur's heavy snoring while sucking in moths in and out through his nose. He decided to give up for now and get up, stretched out his limbs. Jeanne watched him as he walked over to the pony was riding.

"Hello, girl. Who's a good girl?" He said fondly and petted her. Bilbo reached into his red coat pocket and pulled out an apple. "It's our little secret, Myrtle."

A weak smile crept to Jeanne's lips and she pulled her hood up further over her face and leaned back against the tree her and Gandalf were sitting against. Her heart dropped when she heard a distant screeching sound off in the endless valley.

Bilbo shuddered. "What was that?" He looked over to Fili and Kili who were still up, faces morphed with minor concern.

"Orcs," Kili said.

"Orcs?" Bilbo rushed back over to the group as Thorin raised his head at the mention of the name.

"Throat-cutters," Fili said ominously. "There'll be dozens of them out there. The Lone-lands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee small hours when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet, no screams. Just a lot of blood."

They watched as Bilbo's face was drained of all color before they couldn't hold it in anymore and begin to snicker.

Jeanne frowned and instinctively pulled her sleeves further down her arms and tucked her legs to her chest. Gandalf smiled a bit and patted her on the shoulder to ease her worry.

Thorin spoke up harshly to them. "You think that's funny? You think a night raid by Orcs is a joke?"

"We didn't mean anything by it," Kili said.

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world." He narrowed his eyes and walked off far from the group to look over the edge.

Balin walked up to them as Thorin left. "Don't mind him, Laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate Orcs." He spoke grimly. "After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient Dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first."

Jeanne looked over to Balin as he spoke of the old tale that caused pain in his voice, seeing how he was part of it too and witnessed the whole thing. She got up off the ground and walked over to the fire to listen in with curious eyes.

"Moria has been taken by legions of Orcs...led by the most vile of all their race: Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began..." Balin swallowed hard. "By beheading the king."

Jeanne felt her heart up in her throat and forgot the breathe for a moment. To even imagine coming face to face with such a Orc made her blood run cold.

"Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing. Taken prisoner or killed. We do not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us." he then began to smile and look of to Thorin. "That is when I saw him. A young Dwarf prince...facing down the pale Orc. He stood alone against his terrible foe. He armors rent and wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield. Azof the Defiler learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces railed and drove back the Orcs. And our enemy has been defeated. But there was no feast, nor song that night...for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived. And I thought to myself then...there is one I could follow. There is one...I could call king."

Jeanne sucked in the cold air before speaking. "And the pale Orc. What happened to him?"

Thorin marched over back to the camp and spoke in a menacing tone along with eyes that burned into hers. "He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago."

Jeanne wanted to trust his words that the pale Orc, Azog was dead, but something in her heart said otherwise. Her hands trembled and burned for some reason and she couldn't help...to have nightmares that night about facing down that pale Orc upon frozen waters in the dead of winter.


	5. Hide and Seek with Trolls

**HIDE AND SEEK WITH TROLLS**

The rain was heavy and cold and the mud at the horses' feet was sloshy. It was all around miserable and the coldness had seeped through Jeanne's clothes and soaked her body to the bone. She sighed deeply with herself and just had to be thankful for the little things. She never really did do good in the heat, so the coldness was refreshing in a way.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf, can't you or Miss Jeanne do something about this deluge," Dori asked them.

"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wished to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another Wizard." Gandalf said.

"Are there any others?" Bilbo asked.

"There are five of them," Jeanne answered for him. "The greatest of their order is Saruman the White. Then there are the two Blue Wizards, and...ah, well, Radagast the Brown. Radagast. He's always been a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands."

Bilbo nodded until something stuck with him. "Wait a moment. You said five." He remembers.

Jeanne blinked and looked over her shoulder at him, the rainy haze hiding her expression. "Did I? Well, my apologies. I meant six."

Bilbo also noticed Jeanne's tone sounded a bit off too. Not to mention her way of wording it seemed strange as well. Instead of using 'us' she used 'they' instead when referring to the Wizards like she wasn't counting herself in with them. Still, he could be thinking into it a bit too much so he just shrugged it off.

* * *

The rain cleared up the closer they got up the mountains where they saw what looked to be a farmhouse in ruins, freshly fallen Jeanne would say. She didn't think its been long since the occupants left.

"We'll camp here for the night," Thorin announced to his party.

That made Jeanne frown. She dismounted her horse and walked over to the ruins that Gandalf was looking over.

"A farmer and his family used to live here," Gandalf said while walking around the old remains of the house. "What do you think Jeanne?"

Jeanne tugged on her sleeves, out of habit and gave him a grim look. "I think we should find another place. I don't think staying here will be wise." She turned around when Thorin approached them. "We could make for the Hidden Valley."

Thorin stared at her with his cold eyes that knocked the air out of her. "I told him already...so I guess I have to tell you too. I will not go near that place." He set his foot down on his decision with his voice made of venom.

"Why?" Jeanne didn't back down. "The Elves could help us. It would be safe. We could get food, rest, advice."

"I don't need their advice." Thorin spat before glaring at Jeanne. "And I certainly don't need yours."

Jeanne felt her heartburn a little at his remark. "You don't...you don't have to take my advice, but think about it. We have a map we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us."

"Help? Don't speak to me of 'Help'. A dragon attacks Erebor. What help came from the Elves?" He began to step closer and closer to her until he was right up in her face. Jeanne instinctively tried to hide away in her baggy clothes. "Orcs plunder Moria...desecrate our sacred halls. The elves looked on and did nothing. You asked me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather. Who betrayed my father."

Gandalf grabbed the petrified Jeanne and pulled her away from the intimidating Dwarf. "You are neither of them. I did not give you that map and key for you to hold onto the past."

"I did not know that they were yours to keep."

Gandalf felt his anger and limit with the Dwarves finally spill out. He grumbled and began to march off.

"Where are you going?" Jeanne ran after him.

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense. I've had enough of Dwarves for one day." He marched up to his horse. "Come along, Jeanne." That caused Jeanne to stop. Gandalf turned around. "Will you not come?"

Jeanne gave a weak smile. "Thorin may not find my help useful but at the same time...if both of us leave then...who will be the ones left with any sense around here?"

Gandalf felt a bit of pride in his chest while staring at her. He smiled and pulled her hood off her head to ruffle the fire. He pulled it back over her head rather quickly though and leaned down. "Keep the fire hidden. You understand?" He whispered mysteriously.

Jeanne's eyes fell. "I understand." She watched as Gandalf rode away leaving her alone with the Dwarves.

* * *

It was a glassy moon out today that shined a pale light down on the camp of Dwarves.

Bilbo looked off to the woods and was still expecting Gandalf's return. "He's been a long time," Bilbo said and hurried over to Jeanne who sat at the outskirts of the camp, looking into the woods. "Is he going to come back?" He was a bit concerned.

"Hmm?" Jeanne turned her head. "Ah, yes, don't worry, my dear Hobbit. Gandalf will say and do what he pleases but he will not abandon the journey. Just be patient."

Bilbo sighed and sat beside the tree Jeanne was leaned up against. "You sound like you've known him for a long time."

"I have. Yes." Jeanne nodded before a faint smile sneaked to her lips. "Believe me or not, my dear Bilbo, but I'm older then I appear."

Bilbo scrunched his eyebrows together and got a better look at Jeanne, the young looking youth without a single wrinkle on her face. "How old?"

"Very old." She snickered. "Thorin...I'm sure he's not very fond of me just because of the reason that I don't have very much experience, despite my age. I always hid away in Valnora forest before coming on this adventure."

Bilbo frowned. "Why did you hide? Like, when someone hides then that means someone is after you, right?" His eyes deepened with concern at Jeanne's never changing expression.

"Oh, my dear Bilbo...the world is bigger and deeper then you believed." She gave him a tap on the shoulder and gestured her head to the soup they were handing out. "Would you do me a favor and get me a bowl of soup, and probably one for yourself too." Bilbo nodded his head and got up. Jeanne smiled as the Hobbit walked away before something made her lips drop.

A low rumbling sound.

Jeanne leaned her body down on the mossy floor and pressed her ear to the ground. She closed her eyes and felt a low rumbling sound, heavy, slow. Footsteps. They were heavy and large footsteps. She felt it vibrate her whole body as she laid there, taking in the sound and trying to pinpoint where it came from. Jeanne narrowed her eyes and looked up, staring deep into the dark woods where she knew something was there.

Bilbo came back to the edge of the camp and stopped when he saw that Jeanne was gone. "Jeanne?" He called out and looked behind the tree if he could see a scarlet-haired Wizard. Nothing. "Jeanne?"

* * *

Jeanne hid in the shadows and peeked her head out from behind a tree. There was no mistaking it now, once their large pale and wrinkly old bodies laid before Jeanne's eyes. Trolls. Three of them huddled together with a campfire burning in front of them. They were even cooking or rather complaining about the food.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today...and, blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow." Bert, one of the Trolls complained to their cook, William."

"Quit your griping. It's better than a leathery old farmer. All skin and bone, he was. I'm still picking bits of him out of me teeth." He picked his sharp and nasty teeth with is dirty fingers.

Jeanne mumbled so they wouldn't hear her and decided to just watch and find an opening to leave and warn the company. "Trolls... Why are they so far away from the mountains though..." She watched without making a sound and slowly began to back up away from their camp when she felt her heart stop the moment her foot stepped on a twig that made a loud snapping sound.

"What was that?" Tom peeked his head up and looked around.

"Over there!" Bert pointed with his finger right down on Jeanne. She stood there with wide eyes of denial before taking off in a dead sprint through the woods to escape from her predators.

"Don't just stand there." William grabbed Bert and shoved Tom up. "Grab it! We'll be eating good tonight!"

Jeanne could feel her legs shake and lungs burn. Her feet slipped a bit under the wet leaves as she ran through the darkness completely lost in mind and destination. Her body burned from the cold she had to endure and her skin was crawling with the sound of the Trolls heavy footsteps behind her.

"Where'd it go?!" William shouted when he couldn't see Jeanne anymore. "That things fast. What did it even look like?"

"Ah, small and red I think," Bert complained and scratched the back of his head.

Jeanne felt like her lungs were going to burst and her head started to spin the longer she stared into the darkness that looked like an impenetrable wall of black where there was no way out. No way to escape from these creatures. The only cover Jeanne had now were the trees that she hid behind quickly. She was hoping that they would give up and move along but Trolls are stupid and probably don't know the meaning of giving up. She heard them stomp around her hiding spot. Jeanne closed her eyes and hoped that they wouldn't find her and also cursed herself at the same time for getting into this mess. She heard their loud footsteps slowly walk on by and she without a breath before opening her eyes, coming face to face with Tom.

"Found it!" He squealed.

* * *

Bilbo looked up and felt a great deal of relief when he saw Gandalf ridding up to them on his horse. Bilbo got up from the tree and hurried over to him. "Oh thank goodness your back."

Gandalf looked at Bilbo who was completely out of breath and pale. "What on earth is the matter?"

"Jeanne. She...she...I was talking to her and walked away for a moment...then she was gone. I have no idea where she is now." Bilbo explained in one breath.

Thorin lifted his head when he heard that. He was about to walk over to them when this ear-rattling scream echoed through the dark woods that made everyone's blood run cold.

Gandalf turned grim. "That was her. Come on!" He was taken back though about how fast the Dwarves gathered their things and ran headfirst into the woods.

"We're coming, Miss Jeanne!" One of them shouted.

Gandalf couldn't help to smile though about how fast these Dwarves got so fond of her. She still had that charm.

* * *

She screamed so loud when Tom suddenly appeared in front of her, startling him and accidentally struck Jeanne. Her body crashed hard against the trees and knocked one over when she was suddenly backhanded by Tom.

"I got it! I found it. It is small and red." Tom cheered.

Jeanne felt warm blood trickle down from her head and run over her right eye, making it burn. She lifted her head and saw the Trolls enclose on her but behind them, she saw a faint glow coming from behind a boulder. She cracked her head to the side and saw her staff was a few feet away too.

"Grab it. Come on!" William ordered.

"Quit yelling, would ya?" Bert reached his large hand down to grab Jeanne when the young lady suddenly rolled over and ran between Tom's legs in a red bluer. "Grab it, Tom!"

"Hold on! I got it!" Tom spun around and reached both his hands out to grab her.

Jeanne finally reached her staff and lifted it up like a spear. She twisted her body around and chucked it so hard that it pierced the boulder behind them. The stone started to crack before a large chunk broke off, revealing the sunlight that bled through. The trolls screeched and hid their faces from the light before their bodies finally stopped moving, turned to stone.

She felt her body collapse and she fell to her knees, hands in her laps and blood dripping down into them. The Dwarves finally broke through the treeline and came out screaming, holding their weapons and ready for the battle. Their war cries soon stopped when they saw Jeanne sitting around the stone Trolls.

Gloin shrugged his shoulders and dropped his axe. "Miss Jeanne really didn't need our help, I guess."

Dwalin walked over to the stone Trolls and tapped them with his axe. "Guess so." He mumbled.

Bilbo ran over to Jeanne when he noticed the blood trailing down her face and had a minor freak out about it and tried to help her, all the while Jeanne was smiling ear to ear.

Gandalf smirked and looked over to Thorin with a slightly mocking expression. Thorin rolled his eyes and was about to walk away when he saw Jeanne's staff stabbed into the rock. He squinted his eyebrows together and walked over to it and grabbed it with one hand and tried to yank it out with one pull but it was stuck in their good. Gripping it with two though finally got it loose. He stared at it in disbelief that she was able to do chuck it hard enough to penetrate the stone.

Thorin looked at Jeanne, uncertain where that surge of strength came from. He sighed and walked over to her. "Don't lose your only weapon." He said in his usual cold tone.

Jeanne sheepishly took it from him and watched as he marched back to the camp. She couldn't help a faint smile from coming to her lips.


	6. Troll Cave and The Estrange Gaze

**TROLL CAVE AND THE ESTRANGE GAZE**

Right at the hairline on the right side of her head was married with a decent size gash that was red and purple, but despite taking a blow from a startled Troll, Jeanne was just fine. The Dwarves seemed rather proud of her too, saying that 'She's built like a Dwarf. She will be fine.' Bilbo was a little more than a bit concern of course and did everything in his power and knowledge to make sure the small cut wouldn't get infected.

Thorin gave Jeanne a long and studied gaze. That bizarre strength to pierce stone with a blunt end of a wooden staff, the capability to think of a plan despite being hunted down by Trolls was also very strange. For now, he decided to brush it off. He walked up to Gandalf. "Where did you go to, if I may ask?"

"To look ahead." He spoke without much clarification.

"What brought you back?"

Gandalf eyed him. "Making sure the fire doesn't go out, which it almost did." He gave a skeptical look at Thorin that burned. The young Dwarf prince said nothing though and looked as just when Jeanne walked over to them.

She gave a small and cheerful laugh. "Oh don't be like that." She smiled. "We are all fine, nothing but small bruises."

Thorin was a little less than pleased by her carefree attitude. "Next time tell us when you think about wandering off on your own." He scolded Jeanne who shamefully looked away like a child being yelled at. Even she could admit that she wasn't thinking right during that situation. "You could have been killed."

Gandalf turned his head to hide the fact that he was smiling. If he recalls, Thorin said that he wasn't going to be responsible for her fate, yet, he was concerned for her well being. "Still, she is in one piece." He ruffled her scarlet hair, looking like wildfire in his eyes.

Jeanne sighed and ran her fingers through her hair before hiding it under her hood. "If anything..." She looked at the stone Trolls. "They must have come down from the Ettenmoors, do you think?"

Thorin frowned. "Since when do Mountain Trolls venture this far south?"

"Not for an age." Gandalf shook his head. His eyes fell grimly upon Jeanne as if he was staring at someone he was unfamiliar with. "Not since a darker power ruled these lands."

Jeanne's eyes slowly cast up and met his mysterious gaze. A fire burned behind her cornflower blue eyes. Her fingers stiffened and her muscles clenched, ever responding to those words that made her whole body burn for a reason.

Gandalf played his estrange gaze off and looking around the area. "They could not have moved in daylight."

Thorin looked around. "There must be a cave nearby."

* * *

Finding the cave wasn't hard. They just had to follow the overwhelming amount of flies and the repulsive smell of rot and mud that sank into their skin and clothes. The cave was dark and filled with worthless relics along with luxurious treasures such as gold and swords.

"Oh, what's that stench?" Nori complained while they ventured deep into the cave to explore.

"It's a Troll-hoard," Gandalf stated the stone fact and lead the way with Jeanne, Thorin and the rest of the company behind him. "Be careful with what you touch."

Jeanne heard the Dwarves hacking and dry-heaving behind her. She felt like she was going to throw up herself because the smell was so revolting. Like rotten food and bodily fluids. She covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve and counted to ten in her head to take a breath through her mouth.

The Dwarves seemed to have forgotten all about the smell once their eyes laid upon the shiny gleam of gold coins laying on the ground.

"Seems a shame just to leave it lying around," Bofur said. "Anyone could take it."

"Agreed," Gloin said while opening a full chest of gold. "Nori. Get a shovel."

Thorin looked through the old swords that were in a barrel covered in dust and cobwebs. His eyes caught two and he picked one up and looked at the craftsmanship on it. "These swords were not made by any Troll." He put his torch down and held up another well-crafted sword and handed the other to Gandalf.

"Nor were they made by any smith among Men." Gandalf cracked open the sword a bit and saw the perfectly edged silver. The realization finally struck. "These were forged in Gondolin. By the High Elves of the First Age." As soon as he said that, Thorin was about to put the blade back. "You could not wish for a finer blade." He said more firmly.

Thorin stopped and yanked the blade open and could finally see the sharp edge of the sword that was perfectly crafted with a great deal of care. Even he had to admit that they were beautiful. "Jeanne..." He spoke in a small voice so she wouldn't hear. "She needs a blade, does she not? She is practically defenseless."

Gandalf didn't even bother to hide the fact that Thorin said her name for the first time. "She is more then meets the eye." His words carried a deep and hidden meaning as they both looked at the lady as she watched the Dwarves bury their treasure. "She will prove it to you...one day."

The Dwarves looked up to Jeanne and grinned ear to ear. "Don't worry, Miss Jeanne. We'll make sure to give you 12% of it."

"You're generosity is very comforting to know of." She smiled.

Thorin began to head out of the cave after looking through it. "Let's get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go."

Jeanne was about to head out when her foot landed on something hard, not like a rock or anything like that, but small. She frowned and kneeled down in front of the ground.

Gandalf stopped beside her. "What on earth are you doing, Jeanne?"

Jeanne moved some of the dirt away and saw a small blade that laid hidden at her feet. She smiled at it when a thought came to mind.

* * *

Jeanne climbed out of the cave and saw Bilbo standing beside it. "Bilbo. Would you be a dear and come here?" She called out.

"Hmm?" Bilbo walked over to her.

"I found this for you." She handed the small blade over to him that looked to be the right size for the small Hobbit.

Bilbo took the gift from her hands and frowned while looking at it. "Jeanne..I...I can't take this."

"The blade is of Elvish make," Gandalf spoke for Jeanne while coming out of the cave. "Which means it will glow blue when Orcs or Goblins are nearby."

"I...I have never used a sword in my life."

"And I hope you never have to," Gandalf said.

"Jeanne..have you ever used a sword?" Bilbo asked her, just hoping that he wasn't alone but noticed a very small change in her eyes when he said that. It was the same change her own voice made when they were talking about the Wizards.

"Well...not much in this life." She said with a sly grin and could understand where Bilbo was coming from. It really must be hard to accept. Jeanne patted him on the shoulder. "A sword is...a complicated thing. You either choose to kill someone to save your life or use it to kill someone to protect the others around you. But it is up to you if you wish to use it at all to kill. Kill your enemies...or spare them. Take no shame in your choice. "

Bilbo could feel his heart swell with her words and it felt like she was speaking in a way...like she had her own experience. So...has she killed someone before? Has she used a blade for that manner?

Jeanne smiled at Bilbo's curious eyes when Thorin's howling voice belted out to all his party. "Somethings coming!" She felt her blood run cold and looked up as all the Dwarves started to arm themselves when something burst forth from the woods. Rabbits pulling a slay with Radagast the Brown upon it, shouting in a distressed voice.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" He cried out and came sliding to a halt before a startled Jeanne who hid behind Gandalf.

Gandalf sighed to himself. "Radagast." All the Dwarves finally put away their weapons. "It's Radagast the Brown." He pulled Jeanne with him and walked up to the wild looking Wizard who looked as if he saw a ghost. "Well... What on earth are you doing here?" He asked dryly.

Radagast grabbed Jeanne by her arm and lifted her sleeve up to look at her skin before he rambled on one breath. "I was looking for you and Jeanne." He scanned over her arms as Jeanne got more and more creeped out by his wild gaze. "Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"And you have to scan over our dear Jeanne?" Gandalf pulled Jeanne's hand free."What?"

Radagast opened his mouth and stopped as all the thoughts in his head slipped away. "Oh." He kept acting like he was going to talk but his mind was as lost as he was. "Just give me a minute." He grumbled. "I had a thought and not I've lost it. It was right there on the tip of my tongue."

Jeanne gave the man a skeptical look. "Well...you came in yelling about thieves, fire, and murder, so..."

"Fire...?" Radagast's voice slowly dropped to a sinister and dark tone when he looked upon Jeanne's hair, as red as fire. "Fire... That's right."

* * *

Gandalf took Radagast and Jeanne aside so they could talk in private.

"The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf," Radagast spoke with deep severity in his voice as Gandalf silently smoked on his pipe. "A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows anymore. At least, nothing good. The air is foul with decay. But worse are the webs."

Jeanne furrowed her brows. "Webs? What do you mean?"

"Spiders, Jeanne. Giant ones. Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant, or I am not a Wizard. I followed their trail. They came from Dol Guldur." His eyes fell upon Jeanne as she flinched, pulling her sleeves further down her arms to hide any trace of skin.

Gandalf slowly turned around. "Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned."

Radagast shook his head and spoke grimly. "No, Gandalf. 'Tis not. A dark power dwells in there. Such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits...of the dead. I saw it, Gandalf...from out of the darkness with eyes burning from ember...to fire. A Necromancer has come."

It was like all the strength in her body faded away slowly and left her numb inside, unable to feel anything else...but fear. Jeanne felt like she had to take a step back when her body grew cold and weak. She braced her body against a tree and turned around, listening to Radagast's tale of the old fortress where a living shadow now dwells in, but as she stood there she felt as if the woods were enclosing in on her, that very shadow reaching out through the darkness to grab her.

"Now a Necromancer...are you sure?" He said with a voice gravely serious, taking a glance to Jeanne.

Radagast narrowed his eyes and pulled something out from his brown robes. A sword covered in a cloth. Gandalf studied it with his old eyes and took it from his hands, unraveling it and opening it up when a faint chuckle crept out of Jeanne's lips as Gandalf and Radagast slowly looked over to her. The old wizards felt this odd fear dwelling in their chest at how deep her chuckle was and questioned if it was really Jeanne that was sitting over there from behind the tree.

"Jeanne?" Gandalf called out to her with a wary voice.

"Of course..." Jeanne spoke through her cracking voice like she was on the verge of tears. "Of course... It is true...if I am still in this world...then so is 'it'." She sat on the ground in defeat as these black, ashen veins began to appear on her skin and moved up to her arms and onto her face. Her eyes opened up which was once a cornflower blue but now burned like embers. A bright and evil glint that was too old and powerful for them to belong to Jeanne...and you know what? They weren't her eyes. She blinked once and the veins disappeared and her eyes turned back to normal.

A distant growling sound caught their attention and all heads looked up at the sound that resembled a wolf. It didn't sound far at all either.

"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked, his voice gradually growing concerned. "Are there wolves out there?"

Bofur's voice shook. "Wolves. No, that is not a wolf."

A large wolf-like creature snuck up on the party from above the cliff and jumped down at them. The Dwarves scattered like flies before the beast was struck down by Thorin. It wasn't over yet before another one came from the other side.

"Kili! Get your bow!" Thorin screamed.

Kili took a quick shot and pierced the beast in the side and caused it to topple down the cliff, finally being put down by the heavy axe Dwalin used on it.

Radagast hurried over to the party as Gandalf kept a frightened and frozen Jeanne behind him.

Thorin yanked his sword free from the beast's flesh. "Warg scouts." He growled. "Which means an Orc Pack isn't far behind."

"Who did you tell about your quest beyond your kin?" Gandalf demanded.

"No one," Thorin stated.

"Who did you tell?" Gandalf raised his voice more firmly.

"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You're being hunted." Jeanne's frail and shaking voice spoke up from behind Gandalf. "We have to get out of here." She could feel her body slip away from reality and had trouble even coming to terms with what Radagast had just told them.

"We can't. We have no ponies." Ori informed them after coming back empty-handed. "They bolted."

Her heart was going to bust. She felt in the depths of her body that had grown cold to the sound of the enclosing Wargs. Fear. That was all she felt and her mind has totally gone blank. The world dissolved of all color and the sounds around her became void and hollow. Her stomach twisted and she wanted nothing more than the world to swallow her whole, but she was never allowed such luxuries. She wanted to belt out a scream until her voice went raw. She wanted to cry until all the tears dried up, but fear, fear held everything in place and made the world around her feel surreal. Was this really her world?

"I'll draw them off," Radagast said confidently.

"These are Gundabad Wargs. They will outrun you." Gandalf felt Jeanne's hands tremble.

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits." Radagast noticed the hollow look in Jeanne's eyes. He pulled her hood off and ruffled her hair until the life returned. "I'd like to see them try."

Very slightly, a smile returned to her lips.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**You know shit gets real when the title of the story is spoken. I dropped a hell of a lot of hints in the chapter as well so pay attention to what Jeanne says. Her identity and purpose will be revealed at the end of the story, so be on the lookout. ****I have to say, I'm starting to get excited. **

**P.S. I'm going to be out off town next week on vacation (a well-desrved one too) so you'll probably see the next chapter near the end of the week. **


	7. Fear in the Eyes of Fire

**FEAR IN THE EYES OF FIRE**

Radagast jumped out of the brush in a mad rabbit dash and was immediately chased down by the Orc riding Wargs when they saw him. He cheered loudly with all the confidence of a mad man. "Come and get me!" He shouted with a grin on his face and hoped that this was enough of a distraction for the Dwarves to silently slip away, but there were still so many Wargs left in the area.

Gandalf looked back at the company and spoke swiftly to all of them. "Come on." They took the chance to move through the large maze of boulders for cover. Gandalf glanced back and saw Jeanne standing perfectly still as white as a ghost. "Jeanne, no time to stand still. We have to move, my dear."

All the air vanished from her lungs so she ended up taking in a deep breath like she just broke the water's surface. "Gandalf..." She spoke in short breaths like she was deprived of air for hours. "I can't breathe. I..I just...I can't breathe." She gasped once again for air and clenched down on her chattering teeth. Jeanne's face was pale but her body felt cold. She looked up at him with her glassy eyes that were on the verge of shattering a flood. "Are we going to be alright?"

It was a harsh flashback through Gandalf's old eyes. He blinked once and the image in front of him changed. He saw a frightened Jeanne shivering before him in the dusk while pleading for help. Another blink and he was pulled back into reality. "My dear Jeanne." He put his hand on her shoulder and looked in her glassy eyes. "You are afraid?"

"Petrified." she corrected him with a cracking voice. "I...I..." She almost caught herself saying she wanted to go home. Home? What home is there for her to go back to? Valnora forest was always a temporary settlement that hid her fire away from the world, deep in the darkness that was safe enough for her. It was different now. She was out in the sun where her scarlet locks acted like a beacon, saying 'She is here!'

Oh, all the Lords and Spirits in the world...is there anyone left who is willing to pray for her safety? Anyone? Someone?

Please...don't let the living shadow fall upon her...

Gandalf saw that his words were no longer getting through to this woman. She stood absolutely still like a stone and swore she wasn't even breathing anymore. "Come on! Run, Jeanne! Fly!" He grabbed her wrist and started to drag her along.

The sound of the distant Warg howls rumbled deep in her skin and set her soul on fire. She blinked once and looked over her shoulder at the noise.

Thorin halted himself quickly when the path before him was covered by the Warg scouts that were still in the area, hunting them down.

"Stay together." Gandalf hissed.

"Move!" Thorin growled and gestured back to his party to run in the other direction away from the scouts.

They were surrounded by a large number of them in the area. Some of the Wargs were being ridden by Orcs and others led the pack after Radagast who was still trying to draw them off their path and off their smell.

"Come! This way." Gandalf said and pushed Jeanne along with the rest of the Dwarves.

"Where are you leading us?" Thorin noticed and it felt like he was taking them somewhere specific.

Gandalf said nothing and carried on leading the party to safety with the thumping of the Wargs heavy footsteps rumbling the ground. They all quickly huddled together behind a mountain of rocks and their heart literately dropped when they heard the low and deranged growl from a Warg and Orc right above them. The low growl made Jeanne stop breathing and the 'shinking' sound of a sword made her heart shrivel up and die.

The Orc knew they were near.

Thorin turned his head to the side to where Jeanne was. She was pale and trembling very softly. It even looked like she was holding back tears shown by her glassy eyes and her right hand over her mouth. He had never seen so much fear before, especially by a woman who was capable of taking down three Mountain Trolls alone. This fear...she was afraid of something else aside from the Orcs that hunted them down. But what?

Thorin made a signal for Kili and he slowly drew his bow. He jumped back from the wall of rock and fired up at the Warg above them, shooting it in the shoulder. The creature screeched loudly before being shot down once again and tumbled down the wall. The Dwarves quickly tried to put the beast down but the loud howling didn't go unnoticed by the pack. The Orc jumped up and his eyes fell upon Jeanne and her fiery strands of hair that fell in front of her face. Its eyes widen and he let out this shrill screech and started to point at her. Gloin knocked him across the face with a hammer before they all ganged up on the Orc and killed him.

Jeanne's hand fell from her quivering lips and down to her heart. The sound of howling became more prevalent and started to get closer.

They found them.

"Move!' Gandalf shouted at them. "Run!"

Jeanne couldn't remember much now. All she felt was someone grab her wrist with a firm grip and yanked her hard, too strong to be Gandalf's. "Thorin?" She spoke through short gasps of air.

"Don't stop! Run!" He yanked her in front of him and pushed her back to keep her in his line of sight. That fear he knew froze the body to its very core so he knew she wasn't going to move my her own will alone. Her staying in front of him was the best option right now, but their choices were fallen ill soon enough. "Jeanne! Stop!" He wrapped his arm around her chest and stopped her when they were faced down with a pack in front of them.

"There's more coming!" Kili shouted at them.

There was no way out no. Surrounded by both sides and Gandalf up and vanished on them.

"Where's Gandalf?"

"He's abandoned us."

Bilbo came up behind Jeanne and pulled her back when he noticed she wasn't moving all that much because of the fear.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin pulled out his new blade that gleamed in the hot sun.

Gandalf poked his head out from behind a boulder. "This way! You fools!" He ushered them over.

"Come on! Move!" Thorin ran over and saw that there was a hidden tunnel below the rocks. "Quickly! All of you!" One by one the Dwarves jumped down into the hole. Bilbo grabbed Jeanne by her hand and they both slid down into the safety of the cave where Gandalf was counting to make sure everyone was there. "Kili!" Thorin called back to him. "Run!"

Kili stopped shooting at the Wargs and ran down into the hole, Thorin being the last one. Once they all were down, a distinct horn blow echoed through the lands, but it wasn't an Orcs horn. They waited in the hole for a few minutes and could hear the sound of fleeing Orcs and cutting flesh of whatever was up there with them. An Orc corpse even fell down into the hole in front of them.

Thorin yanked an arrow out of its neck and saw the head. "Elves." He hissed and threw it down with disgust.

Dwalin looked ahead through the tunnel but saw nothing. "I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or not?"

"Follow it, of course," Bofur exclaimed and hurried down the path since there was no chance in hell they were going back up there.

Finally, Jeanne felt like she could breathe again. She took a deep breath and blinked. "Thorin." She meekly called back to him. He actually stopped and turned around.

"What?" He asked in a usual rough and annoying voice.

Jeanne's lips stopped quivering and turned up into a small smile. "Sorry, but...uh. I think this is the first time...you called me 'Jeanne'." A tiny giggle came from her mouth when she saw his eyes go wide with realization.

The Dwarf scoffed and turned away to march down the hall. Jeanne stood in the back of the party and smiled very slightly with delight.

* * *

The path was long and narrow and you could clearly see the shining sun above their heads as they ventured further and further down the path. The pathway began to open up and small waterfall sprinkled drops of rain on them.

Jeanne ran a hand through the water and raked it through her hair to calm herself down and take the edge off, but through her eyes, narrowed upon a luxurious hidden paradise. The air was fresh and the trees were large and grand, surrounded by white buildings and waterfalls. The beauty was breathtaking and rarely seen by anyone aside from Elves.

"The valley of Imladris. In the common tongue, it's known by another name." Gandalf spoke.

Never in his life did Bilbo think he would lay his eyes upon something he had only heard in books. "Rivendell."


	8. I Live In Fear And I Am Feared

**I LIVE IN FEAR AND I AM FEARED**

Thorin marched up to Gandalf and hissed at him through his teeth. "This was your plan all along." He saw through Gandalf's ploy through the maze of rocks just to get to Rivendell. "To seek refuge with our enemy."

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Okenshield," Gandalf said firmly to the stubborn Dwarf. "The only ill will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself."

Bilbo snuck a glance at Jeanne. She bit down on her lips to stop herself from smiling.

"You think the Elves will give our quest their blessing?" Thorin could only scoff at the impossible idea. "They will try to stop us."

"Of course they will. But we have questions that need to be answered." Gandalf replied and saw the look of defeat in Thorin's gaze. "If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact. And respect. And no small degree of charm."

Jeanne chuckled to herself and started to lead dear Bilbo down the trail. "Is that why you're going to be the one to do the talking?" She smiled and looked back at them.

* * *

They marched down to the lower level of Rivendell and stopped in front of the entrance. Bilbo looked around at the valley that was bathed in warm, golden light that was comfortable to be under. They had rock walls, waterfalls, and green growth on each side of them with the open sea out in front. An ocean of wonder and the eternal land far beyond the eye could see.

Lindir walked down the stairs and greeted Gandalf and Jeanne respectively. "Mithrandir. Naur nún ."

"Ah, Lindir." Gandalf turned around when he was addressed and smiled at him.

Jeanne could feel the hostile energy for Thorin coming from behind her, but she just had to smile. For once she felt like an old friend coming to this place to visit.

_"We heard you and Jeanne came into the valley,_" Lindir said in Elvish.

Gandalf's face became serious. "We must speak to Lord Elrond."

"My Lord Elrond is not here," Lindir spoke.

Jeanne sighed and tightened her grip on her staff. She stole a glance back to the company a bit nervously. "Is that so... Where is he?"

The same horn sound echoed through the valley with the thumping of horse hooves coming over the bridge with Elves mounted on them. They were great in numbers and far excised Thorin and his company. The Dwarves closed in their ranks quickly and prepared for battle as the Elves circled them. Gandalf and Jeanne stood off to the side and watched as they stopped.

Elrond spotted Jeanne's fierce red hair shining like a beacon before he Gandalf standing next to her. "Gandalf. My dear Jeanne," he said gleefully.

"Lord Elrond." Gandalf nodded.

Jeanne walked over to him as he dismounted his horse. He smiled at the glowing lady and shook her hand. _"It is good to see that you are still safe after all these years,"_ he spoke in Elvish.

Jeanne followed in the same enchanting tongue. _"Well, I have tried my best. Valnora Forest is a great cover from the dark shadows. I think you sincerely for proposing it to me."_ Her heart swelled with pleasure and thankfulness. "Where have you been?"

"We've been hunting a pack of Orcs that came up from the South. We slew a number near the Hidden Pass." Elrond held up a twisted looking blade that obviously came from an Orc. "Strange for Orcs to come so close to our borders. Something or someone had drawn them near."

"Ah, that may have been us," Gandalf said and gestured to his Dwarf party.

Thorin stepped up to Elrond, weapon still in his hand of course. It made Jeanne nervous.

Lord Elrond greeted him with the same amount of respect he held for Gandalf and Jeanne. "Welcome, Thorin, son of Thrain."

"I do not believe we have met," Thorin said but his voice was still mashed together with hostility and a bit of mockery.

"You have your grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled Under the Mountain."

"Indeed? He made no mention of you," he said harshly and noticed that Jeanne was frowning at him now.

Elrond then spoke in Elvish to him that the Dwarves couldn't understand.

"What is he saying?" Gloin started to raise his voice and thought that he was speaking ill of them. "Does he offer us insult?"

"No, he's offering you food," Jeanne cut in.

The Dwarves quickly calmed down and started to mumble to each other.

"Well, in that case, lead on."

* * *

The Dwarves were set up with food and soft harp music playing around them, yet they still were quite upset with the lack of meat among all the green dishes. Gandalf and Thorin accompanied Elrond in the outdoor eating hall while Jeanne stayed behind to get cleaned up with a fresh pair of clothes. It has been a long time since she had time for herself and was just trying to enjoy the peace and quiet without any danger.

Elrond looked over the blades that they found in a Troll cave and indeed knew what it was. "This is Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver." His eyes studied over the blade Thorin took for himself. "A famous blade. Forged by the High Elves of the West, my kin." He handed it back to the young Dwarf prince. "May it serve you well."

Thorin nodded and took his blade.

"And this is Glamdring." Elrond looked at the other one that Gandalf had. He pulled the blade out of its sheath to look at the silver. "The Foehammer. Sword of the King of Gondolin."

Bilbo listened in and looked at the sword he got from Jeanne on his lap.

"I wouldn't bother, laddie," Balin said. "Swords are named for the great deeds they do in the war," he informed him.

"What are you saying, my sword hasn't seen battle?" Bilbo asked.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I believe I gave you a letter opener." Jeanne's voice spoke up behind them.

Thorin looked over his shoulder when he heard her voice and saw her in a silk red dress with a gray and black flare-like design that suited her rather well. The dress was long too si it dragged behind her as she walked. Her hair was brightly colored and brushed out that showed off her naturally soft waves. Her eyes were made of the brightest blue gems too that sparkled and glowed in the warm light. Funny enough, Thorin had never remarked her eye color before and was taken back by that beautiful shade of cornflower blue that looked like priceless jewels. He didn't notice that he was staring so intensely at her until Jeanne noticed his gaze and merely smiled.

Bilbo frowned and looked a bit offended. "You mean to say to me...that you gave me a letter opener?"

"It looked like the right size." She defended herself and sat down next to him. "But that's the beauty of a nameless blade...you get to name it." Her lips curled up into a smirk.

Bilbo saw an opportunity in her words and looked down at his 'letter opener' to think of a couple of names.

Lord Elrond look puzzled when he handed back Gandalf's blade. "How did you come by these?"

"We found them in a Troll-hoard on the Great East Road...shortly before we were ambushed by Orcs," Gandalf explained.

Elrond cocked a brow and took a glance to Jeanne, suspiciously. "And what were you doing on the Great East Road?"

Jeane felt herself burning under his skeptical gaze and cowardly looked away, having Thorin notice her odd behavior.

* * *

Thorin spoke his mind harshly to the Lord Elrond after supper was over. "Our business is no concern of Elves," he spat with venom in his voice.

Jeanne couldn't help to grumble at his attitude. "No need to be stubborn, Thorin. I think it would be wise to show him the map." She tried to convince him but his stubbornness was rock hard just as much as the cold glance he gave her.

"It is the legacy of my people; it is mine to protect, as are its secrets."

Gandalf took a breath and was baffled by Thorin's attitude. "Save me from the stubbornness of Dwarves. Your pride will be your downfall," he said ominously. "You stand in the presence of one of the few in Middle Earth who can read that map. Show it to Lord Elrond," Gandalf insisted more firmly.

Thorin thought it over for a moment. He looked at Jeanne who was staring at him with pleading yet frustrated eyes. He felt himself caving under the stress of not knowing the secrets of the map and in the end, gave it to Lord Elrond.

Elrond took the map and looked over its contents. "Erebor," he spoke hauntingly. "What is your interest in this map?"

Thorin opened his mouth but Gandalf spoke swiftly in his place. "It's mainly academic. As you know, this sort of artifact sometimes contains hidden text." Gandalf saw Elrond's judgmental look that was directed to Jeanne who once again, looked away. "You sill read ancient Dwarvish, do you not?"

Elrond walked away and up to the moonlight that glowed into the beautiful Elvish halls. "Cirth Ithil," he spoke.

A look of realization crossed Gandalf's eyes. "Moon runes. Of course." He smiled. "An easy thing to miss," he said to Jeanne and Bilbo who looked perplexed.

"Well, in this case, that is true; moon runes can only be read by the light of the moon of the same shape and season as the day on which they were written."

Thorin's eyes became pressing. "Can you read them?"

* * *

Elrond led them to an open area outside right beside a cliffside with a waterfall in front of them. At the edge of the cliff was a large crystallized table that he set the map on. Night has fallen and the clouds covered the moon.

"These runes were written on a Midsummer's Eve. By the light of a crescent moon nearly 200 years ago. It would seem you were mean to come to Rivendell. Fate is with you, Thorin Oakenshield. The same moon shines upon us tonight."

The clouds began to part and a glowing crescent moon burned its pale light down on the table that lit it up, showing a hidden text embedded in the map.

"_'Stand by the gray stone when the thrush knocks...and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole.'_" Elrond translated.

"Durin's Day?" Bilbo looked confused.

"It is the start of their new year when the last moon of autumn and the first sun of winter appear in the sky together," Jeanne explained to the young, clueless Hobbit.

"This is ill news," Thorin said. "Summer is passing. Durin's Day will soon be upon us."

"We still have time," Balin assured him.

"Time for what?" Bilbo asked.

"To find the entrance. We have to be standing in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time. Then, and only then, can the door be opened."

"So this is your purpose," Elrond spoke up. "To enter the mountain?"

Thorin glared coldly. "What of it?"

Elrond took a deep breath and slowly turned his whole body to face Jeanne. He looked down at her with a pressuring gaze. "Jeanne, it appears that I need to talk to you...alone."

His gaze stole the oxygen from her lungs and her body turn cold as she hung her head in defeat. A sense of dread and fear flowed into her burning bloodstream. From his gaze to his tone, he had figured it out and she knew, she just knew...what he was going to say.

* * *

"I cannot allow you to go on this quest, Jeanne." Elrond took Jeanne aside and into a room so he could have some privacy with her.

Jeanne groaned out in frustration and ran her fingers through her hair. "I understand the concern but-"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you do." He cut her off and held worry in his old eyes. He trailed after her as she paced around the room. "Your existence is an old and dangerous one. If anyone, anything in this world finds out that you still exist...then they would either use you...or kill you out of pure fear."

Jeanne stopped and snapped her head over her shoulder. "You don't think I am aware of that? Do you think that I sleep peacefully every night? No! Never once in my whole cursed existence has it ever...been everything but peace and happiness." Her face was turning redder than her hair. "I live in fear and I am feared. That is how it always been..and will always be until the day this body burns up!" she hissed through her teeth like she was spitting lava at him.

Elrond saw that her breathing had turned rough as her body quivered with adrenaline. He felt it deep in his heart, his own fear for her, but knew that Jeanne was everything but 'that'. She was frustrated but scared. Timid, yet strong. She didn't have the confidence to waltz around in the outside world so this must have taken tons of courage that she probably didn't know she had. Still, rules were rules and he couldn't allow her to continue on with this quest with Orcs on the move.

"I'm sorry, Jeanne. Truly, I am." He placed his hands on her shoulders as she trembled. She hid her face away like a child by holding it in her hands. "But I cannot allow this."

His words to her may be apologetic but had a harsh reality to them that made it all the worse...because he was right.

* * *

On the outside of the room, Thorin stood there in silence with darkened eyes. He listened in to the forbidden conversation without a word before walking away, his face contorting with suspicion.

* * *

The air was bitter cold but not as fridged as Weathertop was when the Orcs pack had to crawl back to their master, tail tucked between their legs. They stood before his large white Wargs and a pale Orc who faced away from them.

**"The Dwarves, Master...we lost them**," Yazneg said harmlessly with fear radiating from his voice. "**Ambushed by Elvish filth, we were-**"

The pale Orc spoke in Black Speech. "**I don't want excuses. I want the head of the Dwarf King!**" Azog, the pale Orc turned around slowly. He was taller than the rest of them and looked more humanoid and muscular. His eyes where a pale, cold blue and his arm, that Thorin cut off, was replaced with a metal claw.

"**We were outnumbered...there was nothing we could do. I barely escaped with my life.**" He tried to comply with him.

"**Far better you paid with it**." Azog grabbed him by the throat with his metal arm and held him in the air before tossing him against a pillar to the side. Wargs started to attack before killing him.

The fellow rider that was with him quivered in fear at the sight before taking a hesitant step forward. "**Master...we also made a discovery,**" he spoke quietly as Azog turned back around to face him.

"**What do you mean**?"

"**We found it, sir. The one Born of Fire.**"

Azog's cold eyes lifted up. He marched up to the quivering Orcs and leered down at him. "**Did you see**?"

"**We saw its hair...it was the very meaning of fire, sir. 'It' also seems to be accompanying the Dwarf-scum.**"

The look in his eyes turned chaotic as a wide, toothy grin crawled to his face. "**The Dwarf-scum will show soon enough.**" He walked away and looked over the edge. "**Bring me the Fireborn!**" His voice howled like a demon into the blistering night as the Wargs and Orcs set off. "**Bring her to me**!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Ah man, Azog's on the move and knows of Jeanne. I wonder what will happen once they meet? Can't wait to post that faithful chapter for you!**


	9. The Spoils of War

**THE SPOILS OF WAR**

It may now be dark in Rivendell, saved for the small orbs of yellow light that came from the harmless light bugs, and with a small fickler of fire held at the tips of Jeanne's fingers every time she snapped them together, creating a flash of light soon to die out but the small gusts of wind.

Black, ashen veins crawled up her skin every time she snapped but would disappear when the flame died. It has always been like this, she had a strange reaction to fire every time her skin would touch it but never burn or bother her. All until now. Something smoldered inside her chest like lava. An itch in the back of her mind, a gut feeling. Something moves in the dark and hides the fires. It's reaching out its gnarly long claws that dripped with ash towards her but would disappear when Jeanne turns around.

A crashing sound came from behind her and caused her to jump from shock. The Dwarves laughed their heads off when the chair Bombur was sitting on finally collapsed under his weight. She smiled at the merry Dwarves and closed her eyes, letting the flames die out on her fingertips.

* * *

"With or without our help, these Dwarves will march on towards the mountain. They are to reclaim their homeland." Gandalf said to Lord Elrond while walking into an open conference room. "I do not believe Thorin Oakenshield feels that he's answerable to anyone. Not for the matter am I."

"It is not me you should answer to." Elrond opened his arms and led him in.

Gandalf's eyes fell upon a sight that never got old or tiring for him when he saw it. A tall and beautiful Elf standing in perfect frame, shadowing against the moonlight. It gave her this almighty impression when she slowly turned around.

"Lady Galadriel," Gandalf spoke with a smile upon his face.

"Mithrandir." Her low and soft voice rumbled their very souls. "It has been a long time."

Gandalf spoke an Elvish. _"Age may have changed me, but not so the Lady of Lorien."_

Lady Galadriel smiled.

"I had no idea Lord Elrond had sent for you," Gandalf said.

An old voice echoed out from the darkness. "He didn't. I did." Saruman the White walked out into view.

"Saruman," Gandalf said.

"You've been busy of late, my friend. I was expecting to see our dear Jeanne here with you as well. Tell me. Where is she?" He looked around but didn't even so much catch a glimpse of scarlet hair.

"Ah." Gandalf though back to what Elrond told Jeanne. "She...doesn't wish to be disturbed at the moment."

"Is that so..." Saruman stared at him with skeptical eyes, clearly understanding that wasn't the case.

* * *

Dawn almost broke and the sky glowed with this warm pink and red color that filled the lands with light once more.

"Tell me, Gandalf, did you think these plans and schemes of yours would go unnoticed? Pulling Jeanne into such a mess even though we all agreed to never expose her to the world." Saruman sat across from Gandalf with Elrond and the Lady Galadriel who stood.

"Unnoticed? No, I'm simply doing what I feel to be right."

"The dragon has long been on your mind." said the lady. "Is this also why you've brought the one Born of Fire with you."

"This is true, my lady," Gandalf said. "Smaug owes allegiance to no one. But if he should side with the enemy, a dragon could be used to terrible effect. Jeanne is someone who I believe can rival his flames. I also think bringing her along could be good, not only for everyone but for herself too."

"What enemy." Saruman brought up. Gandalf, the enemy is defeated. Sauron is vanquished and Jeanne...is merely just the spoils of war. He can never regain is full strength."

Elrond spoke up. "Gandalf, for four hundred years, we have lived in peace. A hard-won, watchful peace, despite Jeanne sill living in this world."

"Are we?" Gandalf said. "Are we at peace? I'm not saying Jeanne is to blame, I would never, but Trolls have come down from the mountains. They are raiding villages, destroying farms. Orcs have attacked us on the road."

"Hardly a prelude to war." Elrond cut in.

"Always you must meddle, looking for trouble where none exists," Saruman said.

Lady Galadriel's low voice cut in. "Let him speak."

"There is something at work beyond the evil of Smaug. Something far more powerful. We can remain blind, but it will not be ignoring us, that I can promise you. A sickness lies over Greenwood. The woodmen who live there now call it 'Mirkwood'. And they say..."

"Well, don't stop now. Tell us about what the woodsmen say," said Saruman.

"They speak of a Necromancer living in Dol Guldur, a sorcerer who can summon the dead."

Saruman scoffed. "That's absurd. No such power exists in the world. This...Necromancer is nothing more than a mortal man. A conjurer dabbling in black magic."

"And so I thought too. But, Radagast has seen-"

Saruman's old face contorted. "Radagast? Do not speak to me about Radagast the Brown. He is a foolish fellow."

"Well, he's odd, I grant you. He lives a solitary life."

"It's not that. It's his excessive consumption of mushrooms. They addled his brain and yellowed his teeth." His face twisted with disgust. "I warned him, it is unbefitting of the Istari to wander in the woods..."

Saruman's voice began to fade gradually when Galadriel's voice spoke in Gandalf's head.

_"You carry something."_ Her voice spoke telepathically. _"It came to you from Radagast. He found it in Dol Guldur...that Jeanne is afraid of."_

_"Yes,"_ he responded back.

_"Show me."_

Gandalf slowly pulled out the package he got from Radagast that was still wrapped up in orange cloth. He set it down on the table with a dull thud.

"What is that?" Elrond spoke and reached his hand out.

"A relic of Mordor," Galadriel said.

Elrond pulled his hand back for a moment before pulling the cloth to reveal the darkness in its truest form. A dull sword covered in black rust.

"A Morgul blade." Elrond breathed in deeply and backed away.

Galadriel's eyes fell upon the blade with a deep shock and loathing. "Made for the Witch King of Angmar, and buried with him. When Angmar fell, men of the North took his body and all that he possessed and sealed it within the High-Fells of Rhudaur. Deep within the rock, they buried them, in a tomb so dark...it would never come to light."

"This is not possible. A powerful spell lies upon those tombs; they cannot be opened." Elrond said.

"What proof do we have this weapon came from Angmar's grave?" Saruman said, ever the skeptic.

Gandalf's eyes darkened because he was waiting for him to say that. "Because of Jeanne's reaction to it. The veins appeared on her skin and her eyes turned a bright amber color. The brightest shade...before black." He could feel ice run under his skin. "That...was all the proof I needed."

Before the tension could rise any higher...it fell when Lindir walked in.

"My Lord Elrond; Jeanne and the Dwarves, they're gone."

* * *

Guilt could rest in her heart later, Jeanne thought. She went this far with these Dwarves and abandoning them when she knows she is needed would only lead to their downfall.

Jeanne stopped on the hike along the path away from Rivendell and stared at the grand valley with deep regret.

Bilbo, the sharp Hobbit noticed the longing look in her eyes. "Will you be alright?" He asked her. "Ever since last night, you..."

Jeanne smiled. "It is nothing to be concerned with, my dear Bilbo." She walked past him. "Not now at least."


	10. Detrimental

**DETRIMENTAL**

Through rivers and rock cities. In snowy peeks and whispering forests, they carried on without Gandalf and trotted on through the endless planes of land that have been untouched for decades and so on. Space drew out between them with Thorin leading the way and Jeanne and Bilbo right behind him, the rest of the company following suit.

Bilbo huffed and puffed through his struggle and dug his walking stick into the ground, passing Jeanne. He stopped and looked back at her, noticing her far off gaze up to the dark and rain hazed mountains that they were almost upon.

"Is everything alright? Jeanne?" Bilbo called out to her and Jeanne snapped out of her trance-like stare and smiled warmly.

"Oh. Yes. Don't worry about anything, my dear Bilbo." She retook her lead in front of him and spoke once more. "Just when we get to these mountains up here...be sure to stick close to me."

Bilbo furrowed his eyebrows together and tried to decipher her riddle like words. Not coming up with an answer, he shrugged it off and carried on with his hike.

* * *

The path had become treacherous now. They were faced with a heavy rainstorm of Gods making, and winds a monster's howl could only execute. It was dark with the thick clouds in the sky, flashes of lightning behind it that threatened to blow the Dwarves off the narrow mountain trail that was slick with rain.

Thorin's loud and commanding voice managed to shout back to his company who were all clinging to the rocks for dear life as he led the way down the path.

"Hold on!" Thorin's voice could honestly rival the thunderstorm.

Jeanne felt her heart shaking just as much as her legs were. She sucked in a deep breath and carried on through the narrow path that was only a few inches wide. Her ears honed in on Thorin's voice and felt a bit comforted by it, knowing that he was still pushing through and haven't been shoved off the mountainside.

If Thorin could do this, then surely so could Jeanne (Despite how scared she was right now).

Jeanne's eyes looked up to the gloomy blue skies and saw something dark in the air, slowly getting bigger and bigger.

No. It wasn't getting bigger, it was getting closer. It was falling, a massive boulder!

"Look out!" Dwalin howled over the wrenched winds.

The boulder slammed against the rock wall right above their heads and tumbled in pieces down the mountain, just barely missing the company.

Jeanne's eyes only wished they were failing when she looked upon the dark canyon and saw something quite ineffable. "We have walked in at the wrong time..." Her face twisted with fear and controlled her voice. "It's a thunder-battle!" Her cry cut through the rainstorm as a Battle of Old showered in front of her.

Giant; Stone Giants!

These massive creatures, at least hundreds and hundreds of years old towered over the mountains and ripped chunks of rock off, throwing it high in the air towards another that appeared behind the company, striking it in its chest.

The Dwarves stuck to the rock walls and braced themselves as the whole mountain began to shake and crumble, and before they knew it... the giant stood up off its throne, separating the company in two. The battle continued with the Dwarf party, now in a pair, held on for dear life as these legends fought.

One giant came up and head butting another, crumbling the rivels head to pieces.

Thorin's side of the company slammed against the path and halted for a moment.

"Go, go, go!" Thorin roared and they all ran off the giant's legs and onto the steady path once more, but leaving Jeanne's part of the group behind on the giant.

Thorin watched with hopelessness as the separated part of his company was swung side to side in the bitter battle and rainfall. He was able to keep track of them because Jeanne's fiery hair was like a beacon of light.

Jeanne held her hand out in front of Bilbo as his eyes widen in horror and fright but at the corner of his eyes...he saw a small flicker of light began to spark at the crown of her staff that resembled an unblosom flower...that opened up.

The giant's legs began to bow as it's ginormous body started to crumble to the ground. His legs starting to take a straight dive for the rock wall when...CRUSH! They met the wall with a dread-filled sound that stained Thorin's ears.

"No!" His shrieking voice howled in pain when the impact rattled the whole mountain. "No!"

A sudden eruption of light, bright and red, shattered against the stone like magic and the giant's body was blown to the abyss below.

Thorin was left with disbelief at what the light was but wasted no time and ran over to where the rest of his company was...seeing them all lay on the ground but alive, if not a bit disoriented. He sighed with a great deal of relief that washed over him like the rain.

Jeanne was the only one who was standing though. She stood with her back to the company and at the edge of the cliff.

For a reason, Thorin thought that she had something to do with their survival.

He began to walk towards her. "Jeanne-" He stopped himself when he saw the rock beneath her feet began to crack. "Look out!"

The rock gave away and Jeanne slipped from the cliff and started to fall, her red hair disappearing before his eyes. Thorin was quick to react and leaped for her outstretched hand and grabbed it with all the strength he had in his body. He immediately felt his hand burn like fire once he touched her skin. It started to smoke too but no way was he going to release her small and thin wrist, but what caused him to stiffen was her current appearance that knocked all the air out of him

Her skin, naturally very pale was married with gray veins the coursed all around her body and up to her face. Her eyes though burned this bright amber color like a raging flame that radiated this evilness that made his skin shiver with fright.

He would have let go there and then, release this creature he was trying to save, this unknown monster that was before him...if not for the pleading gaze 'Jeanne' was giving him as her body swayed in his grasp. The only thing he could recognize now in this woman was that innocent look he's known for months now...the first thing he witnesses when back in the Shire when Jeanne first came into his life like a small fire.

"Thorin?" She spoke in a shivering whisper, frost coming off her breath as her lips quivered in the cold.

The other Dwarves rushed in to help their lady and pulled her back onto the narrow path and up against the rock wall.

"I thought my heart was gonna stop, you know?" Bofur laughed. "I swore we lost our lady."

"You think your heart was gonna stop? Mine actually did." Gloin shot right back.

Thorin stood up and looked down at his hand that was red and blistering from the heat he sustained from touching her skin. Puzzled, he looked up and unexpected met Jeanne's gaze, her innocent blue-eyed gaze. No ranging flame of amber.

He could do nothing more at this point but question it...what it was that he had just seen.

* * *

Thorin knew that they couldn't stay out in the elements anymore and was lucky, or unlucky enough to find a big enough cave that was dry by the looks of it.

"It looks safe enough," Dwalin says.

"Search to the back; caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied," Thorin said ominously, taking a glance to Jeanne who was drying her scarlet hair out with a towel.

Dwalin takes a lantern and goes to the back of the cave, shining the glowing light in every corner. "There's nothing here." He called back.

Gloin dropped a load of wood on the ground and rubbed his hands together. "Right then! Let's a get a fire started."

"No, no fires." Thorin cut in. "Not in this place. Get some sleep. We start at first light."

Balin squinted his old eyes. "We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us. That was the plan." He reminded him.

"Plans change," Thorin said and looked to Jeanne who met his eyes. "Jeanne, take first watch."

Jeanne was taken back by the request but shrugged. "I Understand."

* * *

SNAP

Jeanne could still hear the sound of the roaring winds outside the cave despite the even worse sounds of the sleeping Dwarves around her, all nuzzled up in blankets and beards.

It was a long watch with nothing to do, so Jeanne manifested a small fire in the center of her palm that dance around in the figure of human children, laughing joyously with all the innocents not yet spoiled by the cruel world. It brought a smile to her face as her imagination took form in her palm.

"I thought I said no fires." Thorin's voice frightened Jeanne and she quickly closed her hand into a fist to put out the fire, though it didn't burn her.

"You're still awake?" She spoke in but a whisper so she wouldn't wake up the rest of the company.

Thorin, who sat across the cave, sat up.

"You don't have to be awake. I know it is my first time watching, but I am sure I can handle it." She tried to reassure him with a smile but something seemed off with his eyes on her. "Thorin?"

"You were the one to save them, were you not." He spoke lowly.

Jeanne blinked. "Oh, well...yes." She felt her chest get tight when he got up off the ground and shuffled over to her.

"I will thank you for what you've done so far, but.." His eyes grew in this unsettling way like he didn't want to speak what was about to come from his lips. "I cannot trust you."

Jeanne felt the air get sucked out of her lungs and her body began to tremble. Her blood started to cringe and she felt like her eyes were going to water.

"I...I don't understand." Her voice quivered just as much as her body was. "Did I do something wrong?"

For some reason that made Thorin's heart burn a bit when she said that.

Her glassy eyes twinkled with fear when he kneeled down in front of her, suddenly gripping her shoulders, not so much that it hurt, but roughly to keep her eyes on his.

He spoke with a voice the came from his toes all the way up to his hands. He felt her body tremble. "I must ask this of you...while I still think you part of my company..." His eyes saw what they saw and he could not ignore this anymore.

She was no Wizard.

She was no human either.

She was...something entirely different, but this one question is the only thing that matters to him right now.

"How dangerous are you?"

He saw her pupils go wide as something began to shuffle behind her blue gem-like eyes, and when she spoke, her voice was as calm as water, the type of water that was being pulled back into the ocean...moments before a tsunami.

She stared at him directly in his deep-set eyes as her tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"**Detrimental**." She said.

This unholy silence washed upon them like a veil of dread. They did nothing more but stare into each other's eyes, motionless and speechless...until the sound of sand escaping caught their ears.

Thorin and Jeanne turned their heads away and saw a line formed in the sand at their feet.

"Wake up." Thorin's voice began to grow. "Wake up!"

The Dwarves began to slowly wake up from their slumber but not fast enough as the floors opened up and they all fell through into the black unknown.


	11. Scorched Innocence

**SCORCHED INNOCENCE **

The company slammed hard against the silk ground that turned into a large slide that pulled all of them deeper into the mountains, before spilling them out into a basket-looking contraption that caught all of them in a pile. Jeanne gasped out all the air in her lungs when a whole lot of Dwarves piled on top of her.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Jeanne." She heard Bofur apologize to her.

Jeanne crawled out from the pile of Dwarves. "I'm fine. Don't worry about...me?" Her eyes adjusted to the darkness way to quickly and saw a hoard of Goblins rushing towards them in a mad dash. They grabbed at her instantly and was torn away with the rest of the Dwarves as they tried to fight back.

"Miss Jeanne?!"

She heard her name being called out but was overpowered by all the Goblins that yanked and pulled on her with their nasty and slimy skin. One by one, the Dwarves were pulled away and shoved down a line through the dark and rough path to who knows where, though Jeanne had an idea and didn't like where this was heading.

"Filthy scum!" Gloin shouted and fought back.

"Get your hands off of Miss Jeanne!"

Their strength was no match to the sheer numbers to the ocean of Goblins that rushed and carried them away like a tide, a nasty, smelly tide that reeked of rotten flesh and body odor. Jeanne felt sick to her stomach and kept her head down and hands firmly on her hood to keep her hair from getting loose as they all were pulled together...all except Bilbo who let the crowd slip right through him by getting down on his hands and knees as they walked right on by him.

The Goblins shoved all of them in line and led the way with torches through their endless maze that was all put together with bridges made of wood and rope that creaked and groaned while walking upon it. The room opened up and danced with torches lights of hundreds upon thousands of Goblins that howled and hooted down at them, and at the end of the long bridge was a throne that had a large, boiled covered Goblin King on it that hacked and coughed all over them. They were all disarmed of their weapons, including Jeanne's staff that was thrown down with the rest of the blades.

The Goblin King stepped down from his throne and spat at them. "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" He smelled of absolute rot and it looked like he bathed in oil and slime daily. "Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"

"Dwarves, your Malevolence." A Goblin explained.

"Dwarves?"

"We found them on the Front Porch."

Jeanne whimpered and stood behind Dwalin's large figure. "That was a front porch? I should have noticed..." She spoke quietly and kept her hands grasp tightly on her hood. She probably would have noticed that something was off but Thorin confronting her as he did threw her off. No, more like he threw her for a loop.

"What are you doing on these parts? Speak!" He demanded but no one utter a single one to the massive Goblin King. "Very well. If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk. Bring in the mangler. Bring up the bone breaker. Start with the youngest!" He pointed right at a shocked Ori.

"Wait!" Thorin howled and the Goblins fell silent when he stepped before the Goblin King.

The Goblin King looked amazed to see him. "Well, well, well. Look who it is. Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror... King Under the Mountain." He mockingly bowed his head. "Oh, but I'm forgetting. You don't have a mountain. And you're not a king... Which makes you nobody, really." He smirked at Thorin's harsh glare. "I know someone who would pat a pretty price for your head. Just ahead. Nothing attached."

Jeanne sucked in a deep breath and instinctively moved to take a step forward but it felt like all the Dwarves were holding her still.

"Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours. A pale Orc, astride a white Warg."

Thorin slowly cranked his head up and glared furiously at him while speaking in a low threatening tone. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed," he growled. "He was slain in battle long ago."

An amused look came to the Goblin King's face. "So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" he gave a cackling chuckle and walked over to another Goblin. "Send word to the pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize."

Jeanne watched with helplessness as the small, snickering Goblin slid away while writing the words of his king to give to Azog.

At that moment, beyond Jeanne's realization was a curious Goblin looking deeply at the back of her hood covered head. Creeping over to her, he reached his long and crusty nails up to her hood and grasped the fabric tightly in his hand and with one swift motion, he ripped it off and unleashed the fires of her hair.

The room broke out into chaos as the Goblins screeched and crawled away from Jeanne as if she was made of fire. Their eyes corrupted with fear as they howled and screamed at her.

Jeanne was shaken up by the sudden noises that flooded into her ears and froze her body. She looked up and saw Thorin looking at her with great confusion riddled in his eyes.

Suddenly she was shoved from behind and launched towards the Goblin King and dropped at his feet.

"Get off her!" Dwalin screeched and tried to shove the Goblins aside. "I'll tear your arms off!"

"Don't you dare! What are you doing to Miss Jeanne?"

The party of Dwarves witnessed the horror as Jeanne was suddenly swarmed by the Goblins like an ocean wave. They tried to rip themselves free from the nasty clutches of the Goblins holding them down, to save their lady that they adored so much, but they found no strength with the numbers that these Goblins had against them.

They could do nothing to help Jeanne and bared witness to what looked like a court hearing. They held her down before the frightened Goblin King who nested up against his throne.

"You!" The Goblin King shouted and pointed a shaking claw at her. "We thought you were dead!?"

Every thought accelerated in Jeanne's mind and her heart thumped around like an old drum being pounded on. She couldn't breathe because it was like the whole mountain was beginning to collapse in on her.

Needles ran under her skin and lit her insides on fire with molten hot lava.

"Oh please no..." She begged with a cracking voice that Thorin, in his calmness, seemed to be the only one who heard.

Why? He thought.

Why is she so afraid of them...when they are just as afraid of her?

At the moment...he never realized just how much he didn't know about her.

The Goblin King stared at Jeanne. His eyes may cloudy with filth and fear but he could still clearly see the scarlet flames dancing around her head like an evil corrupted crown of the damned. "You are not supposed to exist" He spat as fear was replaced with anger. "That body does not belong to you! It belongs to that 'Person' (Sauron). The Child of the Pits, the Dark Lord, the Shadow, the Terrible!"

"Please no!" Jeanne pleaded with him and fought against the death grip of these Goblins. Her voice echoed through the mines as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "I...know that this is not 'me', and that this 'body' is not mine but...Please..." She stared at the ground for a long time, her voice raspy with anxiety and terror. "Please...don't do it"

The Goblin King fell silent as her words rattled his whole armada of Goblins, but he will not be tricked by her cunning words made of hellfire and poison. No one could mistake that...appearance...she is...that person. He knew what he must do...for there was only two way to bring that 'Person' (Sauron) back. Only two ways...

He began to crackle this horrific laugh that filled Jeanne's heart with pain and venom.

"Oh...but you are." He said in a threatening low voice that rattled her body. "You will come to power...if you have to be taken away, or...by other methods"

Only two ways to bring back Sauron, the Dark Lord

Lock the body away until all the pieces are together again, or...dispose of the failure.

The Goblin King stared right into the eyes of this woman who shivered with fear before speaking in an icy tone. "**Kill it.**"

Thorin's eyes widen very slowly as everything began to move in slow motion. He watched as Jeanne's head was shoved back, giving a frightful cry as a Goblin held a knife right above her exposed throat.

"Enough!" Thorin's voice roared as he began to fight back before the Goblins, stretching his hand out to her...but she was too far away. "Jeanne!"

Jeanne squeezed her eyes tightly to wait for it to be over. A flash of light and a gust of wind blew everyone back and silenced the uproar. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself up against the fallen over Goblins and Dwarves, staring upon the grand sight that radiated light.

Gandalf emerged from the shadows carrying his sword in one hand and staff in the other. "Take up arms." He spoke to them. "Fight. Fight!"

The Dwarves felt a fire burning in their chest and they sprung to life, racing for their weapons before the Goblins would react, beginning to cut down the enemy in front of their path.

Jeanne rolled to her feet and her eyes scanned around for her staff and saw it laying against the edge. She jumped to her feet and began running at it just when a two Goblin's notice and race for her with their knives up to strike her down. She grabbed the lower end of her staff and swung it around, knocking the heavy end against one Goblin. The other one swung his knife down but it struck against her staff. She swiftly twirled her body around till he faced the edge and kicked him off.

"Miss Jeanne!" Ori's voice called out.

Jeanne turned around and saw the Goblin king swing his club at her. It touched down at the tip of Thorin's blade and bounced off, sending him falling off the side.

"Thorin?" Jeanne's lips quivered and her heart began to clench.

"Come on!" He suddenly grabbed her upper arm and moved her in front of him. "Go, go, go!"

Gandalf gestured Jeanne and the rest of the Dwarves over. "Follow me. Quick!"

Everyone picked up their weapons and rushed down the path that Gandalf took them down.

"Run!"

Jeanne looked over her shoulder and saw the path behind them being sworn with hundreds, upon thousands of Goblins.

Dwalin stopped in the middle of the path and saw Goblins in front of them.

"Post!" He screamed and they cut a guardpost off the path and held it up like a spear. "Charge!"

They rammed the spear through the crowd of Goblins and swept them all off the bridge.

It was like a dam had broken and they were crowded around with Goblins on each side. They fought their way through the muck and mess of Goblins in the dimly lit caves that branched out like a maze. They ran to a bridge but came to a screeching halt when the Goblin King broke through the wood planks. He rose up and stood in front of them like a wall no man could pass.

"You thought you could escape me?" His large figure loomed over them.

The Goblin King swung his club at Gandalf twice and caused him to stumble back against Jeanne, but he suddenly felt his sword get swiped from his hand and his vision filled with red hair.

Jeanne pulled the sword up in a swift motion and sliced it right across the Goblin Kings belly. He fell to his knees and held his stomach, looking up and meeting Jeanne's eyes.

"You will never esca-"

Jeanne's eyes went wide and she cut his throat before he could even finish his fowl and hurtful words.

"I know..." She mumbled and handed the sword back.

The Goblin King's large body crumbled to the ground but the added weight began to make the bridge start to creak. A loud snapping noise caught everyones attention...before it started sliding down the cavern.

Everyone screamed at the top of their lungs (Jeanne probably louder) and held on for dear life, waited for the impact. They scrubbed against the sides of the mountain before coming to a slow halt, finally at the bottom with nearly no issue at all.

Gandalf fished Jeanne out of the timber of wood and pulled her out. She was as white as a sheet but alive.

Bofur looked up. "Well, that could have been worse."

The corpse of the Goblin King's body crashed landed right on top of the wreckage, squishing the Dwarves even further.

"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin groaned from somewhere underneath.

Jeanne tried to stifle her laughter and began to dig the Dwarves out of the pile. She looked up and saw thousands of Goblins running down the hill at them.

"Oh no..." She cried and began to yank everyone out as quickly as possible. "Get up, get up, get up!" She pushed them all out. "We can't fight them all!"

"Only one thing will save us: daylight!" Gandalf said. "Come on!"

* * *

The end was in sight and the prize was in the form of a crack of light at the end of the tunnel. The smell of the fresh air was absolutely heavenly and the natural light was beyond warming to them.

Jeanne literally slammed herself up against a tree and took in deep breaths of air to calm herself down. She felt around her neck to make sure it was still there before crumbling down to her knees.

Gandalf counted everyone that passed him. "Five, six, seven, eight...Bifur, Bofur...Jeanne?" He looked back and saw Jeanne giving a wave from the base of a tree. "That's eleven. Fili, Kili...that's twelve...and Bombur..." His eyes filled with dread when they come up one short. "Where's Bilbo?" He frantically looked around to spot their little friend. "Where is our Hobbit!?"

"Gandalf...he..." Jeanne spoke up through smalls gaps of air. "Before we got caught...I saw him..." She took a breath. "I saw him slip away. That was the last I saw him."

Panic began to set in for Gandalf and Jeanne. To think that Bilbo might still be in that place made her rise to her feet once more when she felt a hand grasp her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Jeanne." His sudden voice made Jeanne turned around and embrace the once missing Hobbit, Bilbo. He was startled at first and didn't know what to do, giving her a couple of pats on the back. "There, there. It's...alright?"

Jeanne pulled away and held his face between her hands. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?" She studied him frantically and noticed him slipping Something into his pocket.

For some reason...Jeanne's burning hot body...grew cold.

Gandalf laughed. "Bilbo Baggins! Aside from Jeanne, I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life!"

"How on earth did you get past the Goblins?" Fili asked a bit baffled that a small Hobbit got out of that hellhole.

"How, indeed," Dwalin mumbled.

"Well, what does it matter?" Gandalf said, noticing Jeanne shifty gaze to Bilbo's pocket. "He's back!"

All the heartfelt relief was washed away when Thorin spoke up. "We're not done." He said and Gandalf turned to him. "There are unanswered questions that I demand to know if we are to continue with this quest...with her." He pointed his finger to Jeanne who looked somber.

Balin spoke up. "Thorin..."

"We all heard it, did we not? All the names that she was called, her reaction to them all..." Thorin shifted his stubborn and intimidating gaze to Jeanne and marched up to her. "I asked you this one, and for the safety of everyone here...What are you?"

Jeanne bit down on her lips. Of course, she couldn't be able to escape such a terrifying question. "You don't want to know."

"I brought you along and you really expect me to trust you? From Orcs to Goblins. They all seemed to be afraid of you. Now I won't ask you again. What are you?"

Gandalf could sense the growing tension in the air. "Thorin, I don't think now is the time-" He stopped when Jeanne held her hand out.

"No, no. Gandalf, it's...fine." Jeanne took one step towards Thorin until their faces were inches apart, staring into each other's eyes in search of answers to these secrets. "But know this, Thorin Oakenshield. You will no longer look at me the same."

Thorin's voice was cold. "I already think that."

Jeanne's heart burned and her face twisted a bit. "So be it then." She stepped away and turned her back to all them because she couldn't bear to look at them anymore. "I have been alive for 400 years, but this body was not made by ordinary methods. This body...was made and molded together with the hottest flames in Middle-earth."

Balin's eyes began to widen as everything started to click for him. "If that was the case then those flames would only have to be... It cannot be..." He breathed.

Gandalf decided to step up. "I know how it may sound but Jeanne here really is...Born of Fire. In the smoldering pits of Mount Doom, her body was made!"

* * *

_The Dark Lord stood tall with the One Ring shining upon its finger, brighter than ever before. When suddenly, a sword knocked against the back of its head and its helmet went flying off._

_The son of the King of Gondor, Isildur stood behind Sauron with his sword raised to the all-powerful lord. His eyes were made of stone and the ember of hope remained visibly strong, refusing to be snuffed... but the look on his face soon twisted with shock and horror at the unmasked Dark Lord. _

_Long scarlet hair, as red as blood danced in the air before falling over the black colored armor. The unmasked Sauron turned around slowly and face Isildur, unveiling the face of a young woman. Enchanting, yet terrifying. Her long scarlet hair reached far down her back and her skin was a deadly pale, married with these ugly, dark ashen veins running beneath her marble skin. But what was the most haunting, yet alluring about this woman was her eyes. Charcoal wasn't even remotely close to describing them. __The abyss of darkness, black, __just pure black._

* * *

"After Sauron was defeated, she had created a strong body to control, a Vessel Body, as you may call it. Once that body was made though, something quite...unexpected happened that the Dark Lord couldn't have ever predicted. Eru had breathed life into the new body, a different personality to control it. That person...was Jeanne."

* * *

_A scream pierced through the hot air of Mount Doom and a pale hand shot out from the lava that made all the Orcs fidget even closer to the edge. The hand flapped around in the lava pit till it grabbed a hold of the edge where all the orcs were standing. The scream was muffled from underneath the pit till the shrilling voice of a woman broke through with scarlet hair as red as the lava. The woman who pulled herself out of the lava was deadly pale with not a single burn on her perfect skin. What ran underneath though were strange ashen veins that covered all over her body. Her hair wrapped around her body like a shroud to keep her modesty while the ends were still swimming in the lava._

* * *

"'Jeanne' is merely the spoils of war," Gandalf explained to the shell-shocked Dwarves who haunted the silence with their disbelieving eyes that burned into their lady that they have come to love. "She actually didn't have a name until I found her."

"What do you mean?" Thorin was the only one who was able to speak calmly despite his heart feeling like it was going to leap out of his chest. "You found her?"

Gandalf spoke but his voice was low. "Jeanne, in her confusion and panic...saw that something wasn't right and escaped her imprisonment...with sheer force and brute strength. Sometime down the path though...I came into the picture and found our dear Jeanne, scared and alone. It was on that day I decided she...was worthy of having a name...worthy of living."

The Dwarves, who were known for being a loud and merry group, held nothing but silence in their chests. They looked over to the lady that they've have come to adore so much, her blue eyes looking at them with a drained and defeated reflection.

All Jeanne's anxiety, all her pain, her anger, fear, longing. All of it was held together with a disheartened smile that adapted on perfectly to her lips.

Jeanne turned back around and looked Thorin in her deeps eyes, that doesn't seem to scare her much anymore. "Now...how do you look at me now?" Her words were interrupted through when this chill ran under her skin. Jeanne darted her head up and saw something looming above the hill down at them.

Wargs! And a pale Orc smirking as dreadful as his name said.

Azog the Defiler.

* * *

**2 chapters left people!**


	12. Slow Burn

**SLOW BURN**

Gandalf saw the panic stir up in Jeanne's big blue eyes. He and Thorin snapped their heads up when this low growl and barking sound caused their hearts to sink into the mud and drop to the pits of Hell.

Wargs charged down the hill, sinking their long and sharp claws into the dirt to pick up speed while they hissed and growled with drool coming from their mouths.

"Out of the frying pan," Thorin said grimly.

"And into the fire. Run." Gandalf turned to the startled company of Dwarves who were still in a daze from Jeanne's story. "Run!"

Everyone collected themselves quickly and began to run down the mountain with the Wargs following rapidly behind them. As the dusk turned to night, the only light that was willing to shine down on them with the moons pale gaze. There was nowhere to go as the path only led to a cliffside with a hundred-foot drop to a bottom full of rocks and trees.

There was no way out and the howling of the Wargs were getting closer.

Bilbo ducked down behind a rock when a Warg suddenly leaped over him, snapping his jaws. The Hobbit froze in place when he faced down the beast. It charged at him but Bilbo whipped out his sword and held it up, the creature running its head right the blade, stopping it dead.

"Up into the trees!" Gandalf ordered when he saw no way out. "All of you! Come on, climb! Jeanne, Bilbo, climb."

The Dwarves began to leap off each other's heads and grabbed the lowest branch to start climbing as high as they could so the Wargs couldn't reach them.

"Miss Jeanne!"

Jeanne looked up and saw both Fili and Kili reaching their arms down help her up. She grabbed both their arms and they pulled up into the tree. Jeanne clanged to the branches and climbed up on every sturdy one she saw until she was almost at the top. She felt her legs shake when the whole tree began to sway back and forth.

"They're coming!" She heard Thorin shout.

Bilbo rushed to get into the trees but stopped when his sword wouldn't budge from the Warg's thick skull. No way was he going to leave it behind, he placed his foot on its head and began to pull and wiggle the sword until it was finally free. Bilbo looked around but noticed rather quickly that he was the only one wasn't in a tree, standing right in the middle of the charging Warg path too.

He felt a pull on his red coat and was suddenly yanked up into a tree, coming face to face with Jeanne's swaying and wild red hair, hanging upside down from a branch. (She climbed back down to get him).

The Wargs were finally upon them and circled the bottom of the tree and growled at them.

Gandalf looked around the tree he was in and saw something at the corner of his eyes, a butterfly. He reached his staff over and hooked the butterfly at the end and pulled it close to whisperer to it before it flew off.

A white Warg stomped closer to the base of the trees with a pale Orc sitting upon it. He held a mace in one hand and had metallic claws in place of the arm he lost.

Thorin would believe he was dreaming up a nightmare but he knew better. The horror his eyes were witnessing, the Orc that was supposed to have died years ago. "Azog." He breathed.

The pale Orc sniffed the air and spoke in Black Speech. "**Do you smell it? The scent of fear? I remember your father reeked of it...**" He mocked the Dwarf prince who stood hopelessly in a tree, staring into the eyes of his enemy. "**Thorin son of Thrain.**"

Thorin's voice dropped. "It cannot be..."

Azog's gaze finally fell upon Jeanne and his lips curled up into a giant, ominous smirk that made her shiver. "**Those two are mine...**" He points at Thorin and Jeanne with his mace. "**Kill the others!**"

The Wargs began to jump on the trees with their long claws tearing at the bark and teeth chewing off the branches. They jumped and kicked at the tree to bite the Dwarves who had nowhere to go. With every jump they got closer and closer until the roots at the bottom finally began to give away...the first tree started to plunge into another one. The Dwarves and Jeanne on the first one had no choice but to leap from their fallen refuge to the other tree but one by one, they all started to give under the weight and collapse until one tree was left standing, rooted at the very edge of the cliff.

Gandalf looked around for something, anything to help to defend themselves from the Wargs. He spotted a pine cone and yanked it off the tree. He held it up to his staff as it sparked with flames that lit the cone up. He threw it down at the Wargs and it created a trail of fire on the ground as the beasts bounced away from it. The Wargs howled and barked at the fire but refused to come closer.

Gandalf took the opportunity to hand out flaming pine cones. "Fili! Jeanne!" He passed down to the Dwarf and lady below him.

They all began to light up other cones and tossed them at the ground, creating a ring of fire right below the base of the tree. The Wargs fled in terror and were now at a safe distance away.

The Dwarves cheered with this mini victory when there was a loud SNAP in the tree they stood in. The roots below them began to fall away and the tree started to dangle over the cliff.

Jeanne let out a small shriek when the heavy jolt caused all the Dwarves to suspend dangerously over the edge where the bottom wasn't in sight. She held on with one hand grasping ahold of a thin branch and felt her nails scrap as the bark that cracked under her weight. Jeanne winched in pain when she felt the splinters pierce her skin and caused blood to trickle down her arm. Her heart felt like it already took the drop and soon...her body will follow right after.

Jeanne scrambled to find a solution to save everyone but the panic set in long ago from beforehand and her mind refused to think past the anxiety and fear that held her heart in chains.

Ori suddenly slipped from the tree branch he was holding and grabbed Dori's leg before he could fall, but the weight was too much for both of them and they knew it wouldn't hold. It was only a matter of time for not only them but for everyone.

"Mr. Gandalf!" Dori cried out and as his fingers finally slipped, Gandalf pulled his staff down and Dori grabbed it before they could make the plunge to their deaths.

Thorin directed his glare to Azog that was filled with such a deep seeded hatred and rage. His eyes were clouded with it at this point, and when he stood up...he didn't even notice Jeanne's voice calling for him

"Thorin?" Jeanne felt her bone shake when Thorin rose up from the branches and stood with a sword in hand.

He slowly began to walk down the base of the tree as everyone watched in horror. Of course, he couldn't be able to just stand there after all Azog as done. His body won't allow him to stand still anymore.

Thorin charged through the fires with a tree limb held up as a shield. His face growing more and more ferocious with hatred until it was unrecognizable. Azog's lips only curled up at the sight and his white Warg charged at Thorin, pushing the Dwarf into the ground.

Jeanne's mouth dropped open and a shriek echoed from deep in her lungs. "Thorin!"

She tried to get up but her clothes snagged on the branches and wouldn't let go. Was the whole world refusing to help her now? Did all this happen because of her? If she would have stayed hidden in Valnora forest...would this never had happened?

Jeanne...didn't know what to do anymore. Her mind wasn't racing as it did before with panic. It was all white in her head, no sound or picture, no heat or fire.

Nothing.

Her mind was void of everything, as it felt like a devil was starting to whisper in her ears.

**_You didn't want to be thrown into this world in the first place, so cruel and filled with greed. It choked you, terrified you, and petrified your heart until it froze. You wanted to hide but knew it was impossible with your history and bloodline. You wanted to cry till you couldn't anymore. You wanted to scream until your voice went raw._**

**_You were just a scared girl, terrified of the world and its horrors._**

**_It's alright...you don't have to fight anymore...just...let go, and it will all be over._**

Jeanne snapped her head over her shoulder but saw no one there who could have whispered such cruel words to her. Her skin grew pale when this feeling began to bubble up in her chest.

"It's cannot be..." Jeanne's voice cracked. Was her will so weak that even _she_ could whisper in her ear from far away and beyond?

It suddenly became very hard to breathe as the smoke entered her lungs and charred her skin.

Why is this happening?

Why does it have to be me?

It is...really alright to let go?

Will I finally be free if...I let go?

* * *

_Gandalf furrowed his brows and looked over to Jeanne who sat on the bed in her small cottage. "What did you just say?"_

_Her hair was long, very long and had to be held up in a complicated braided hairstyle to keep it out of her face. __When she was with the Orcs, they were very careful and treated her like a princess, never giving her anything that could be used to harm herself, so she never once had her hair cut short._

_Jeanne's voice lacked any kind of emotional spark and she looked as lifeless as her eyes did. "Why...can't I just give up?"_

_Gandalf clenched his jaw and chose his words very carefully since he was speaking to someone as frail as glass right now. "You're not talking about...death, are you?" He swallowed hard when Jeanne made no effort to correct him._

_"I..." Jeanne sucked in a deep breath, staring down at her lap. "I don't want to fight this...when I know it will do nothing."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"What is the point of me fighting? There is nothing for me out here. I was never even meant to exist anyways...so how...can I find the strength to fight a losing battle?"_

* * *

Azog took his mace and slammed it against Thorin's chest and knocked him down. He felt the blow hard against his ribs and every muscle in his body was screaming now. He screamed out when the white Warg's jaw locked around him and bit down hard. The creature tossed him away like a doll and he knocked against a rock and laid there.

Azog stared down at Thorin with a face twisted in pleasure. "**Bring me the Dwarf's head.**" He said to another Orc.

The Orc nodded and dismounted his Warg and began to walk over to Thorin's crippled body.

* * *

_Gandalf sighed with himself and sat down next to her. He rested his staff against the stone wall and worked on getting the braids out of her hair, to free her._

_"You are not the only one who feels like that, my dear Jeanne." He said. "Most people don't have anything to live for because they might have lost it all or...are not worthy of it or fighting in the first place. You though, Jeanne are more worthy than anything. You have a body that is yours now...so fight to live, fight for the happiness that you're worthy of."_

_A shift began to change in Jeanne's eyes. It was a small spark of some sort. A spark of life._

_"Happiness?" She spoke like a child who has not heard that word before and is asking her parents what it means._

_Gandalf chuckled a bit. "Yes. Happiness. The will to continue living. The will to seek out, not greatness, but happiness...a better future. You have to fight to achieve that though."_

_The braids were released from her hair and her long scarlet locks fell across the bed and floor like a red waterfall. Jeanne looked over at the table in front of her were a small knife was._

_"Happiness..." She mumbled and reached for the knife, looking at the locks of her hair. "How do I achieve it?"_

_"You...just have to fight for it...then it will come."_

_"Fight..."_

* * *

_Fight for it!_

_Fight!_

_Fight!_

_Fight, Jeanne!_

Jeanne rose up from the branches as the wind began to pick up, her wild red hair dancing in the heat of the fire. The side of her dress ripped away at the seams and revealed...a sword strapped to her hip. A black and silver handle gleamed in the moonlight but once it was pulled out, it burned.

It was all in one swift motion of brilliance and experience that no man could pull off. Jeanne glided the blade out and twisted it in the air before chucking with all the strength she used from the Troll attack. The blade spun through the air, ripped through the fire and finally, finally, striking the approaching Orc through the chest. The Orc shrieked out painfully and stared down at his chest in disbelief, just standing there when he started to hear this loud tapping noise. The Orc looked up and saw something leap through the ring of fire in a fury of red hair and wild blue eyes. Jeanne landed and rolled on the ground beside him, yanking her sword out of his chest and slicked his head clean off.

Azog's grin fell when Jeanne stood before him now. She held the sword up beside her body as her robes and dress burning away a bit, revealing silver chain mail underneath, glowing and burned brightly against the flames. He stared at her fiery red hair and pale skin with awe. His white Warg stomped back and forth but didn't approach this woman out of fear that he might get burned.

He spoke in that sickening Black Speech. "**Your body remembers how to fight, doesn't it. You were born for this. That body was born to fight...it's what you crave, what you yearn for and...what you will burn for.** "

Jeanne's eyes burned at Azog. "**And?**" She growled in the same dark tongue. "**This body was born and made to fight...but for my beliefs only.**"

Azog cocked his head to the side and pointed his mace at her. "**We're taking this one back with us.**"

His Orcs charged at Jeanne but with one quick action, they fell at her feet. It was like she melted into the fire. No, as if she was the very flames herself. She was swift yet strong, and every attack she made with her sword was lethal. Fighting like a beast that was unchained for the first time in forever.

Thorin, in his fading consciousness, watched Jeanne's flaming hair and sword dance in the night air before falling into the blackness.

Gandalf was speechless and watched Jeanne with wide eyes when something caught his vision, the butterfly.

Dori couldn't hold on any longer and released his staff but before him and Ori could fall...they were caught on the back of a giant eagle that swooped down and saved them.

Off in the distance, the Eagles began to fly through the night sky and grab the Wargs with their talons and drop them off the edge. They flapped their wings at the fire and showed them away.

One by one, they began to pick the Dwarves off the tree and carry them away until Gandalf was the only one left. He leaped off into the air and landed on the back of one.

An Eagle flew up carefully to Thorin and wrapped its talons around him and carried him off, away from the danger.

Azog snapped his head back to Jeanne. He stared into her cornflower eyes as they stared over at the cliff. She twisted her body around started to make a break for the edge.

"Stop!" Azog shouted and got off his Warg that was too scared to move. He ran at Jeanne and reached his arm out to grab her hair when it was too late, she leaped off the cliff and right onto the back of an Eagle before flying away. "No!" he howled into the night.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**We're almost to the end people! Only one chapter is left!**

**I don't know why but...I feel like I left a lot of mistakes in this chapter.**

**Oh, our girl was packing! Hiding a sword and chain mail under all her clothes. Jeanne, you little sneak!**

**I had Jeanne fight like she did because it was originally Sauron's body. It's muscle memory. It's like when you play a video game and your fingers remember the buttons. It's the same for her. Her body just knows how to fight and when it comes to swordsmenship...she really know her things. If Azog didn't explain it well then that why I'm here with these author notes if anyone reads them. I was actually lowkey wanting Jeanne and Azog to have a mini sword battle but it just never happened. **

**I hope you're really enjoying this story and I hope I'm not boring you're or confusing you, but for everyone who had stuck with me until now, thank you! I love when I see my stories get favorites and followed. It warms my heart!**

**I'll be back soon to tell you guys about my plans for the second installment of the Stories of Fire Born!**


	13. Smolder

**SMOLDER**

Daylight was now upon them, but the warm and comforting glow of the sun could not save them from the despair and hopelessness they had to witness just a few moments ago from the pale Orc who totally wrecked Thorin and left him for dead, if not saved by the Eagles.

Thorin, who was still unconscious, was gently laid down at the peek of a massive rock structure.

"Thorin!" Gandalf jumped off the Eagle who carried him. He ran down to the Dwarf and saw his face covered in nasty cuts and bruises, motionless. "Thorin." He breathed. Gandalf held his hand up and hovered it over his face and began to whisper some sort of enchantment and soon enough, Thorin opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.

Thorin's eyes fell upon Gandalf and he spoke weakly. "Where is she?"

Gandalf sighed with relief. "Jeanne... She's...She's right here."

Everyone looked over their shoulders as the final Eagle landed. A woman with hair as red as the morning sky jumped off its neck. Her skin was bruised black and purple and the sides of her left cheek and down her neck were covered with cuts. The chain mail and sword were visible now. Jeanne truly didn't look like the same woman they started this adventure with all those months ago. She had a different air about her and just the way she portrayed herself and her face seemed utterly unusual now.

"Well...that was detrimental," Jeanne spoke in a light-hearted voice.

The Dwarves helped Thorin to his feet but the moment he made eye contact with Jeanne, they narrowed. "Detrimental?" He spat and Jeanne's eyes immediately panicked with worry. "Do not speak to me of 'detrimental'."

"I told you, Thorin Oakenshield." Her lips began to quiver and she didn't dare take a step forwards. "You would not look at me the same once you knew my true self."

"Your words do not even come close...to how I feel about you right now." He took a big step forward and Jeanne jumped when he did. He saw the fear rise in her eyes when they came face to face, her marble skin tarnished and the ends of her flaming hair now only smoldering.

"Do you not think I am not aware of what you think of me. What the whole world thinks of me." Jeanne's eyes became glassy. "They fear me as if I am Sauron when I am not. I'm worse." It's not like she wasn't prepared for this, but it seemed the words struggled to fall from her mouth. It didn't sting. It burned. It burned her to say these words that she knew of all this time. "I am merely... nobody."

Silence captivated her soul and turned her heart into iron chains. It's not like she didn't feel all that pain and rejection the world has put on her and against her. She felt every last drop of their burning rage and shivering fear. It practically stained the air and left this horrible buzzing sound in her ear. Well, at first it was like that. In the last 100 years, those feelings began to give away and leave her body and she was sure, absolutely sure, that was the last thing she felt until she adapted this 'Nobody' persona.

It was an emptiness. A void that had numbed her, to not only her bones but her very soul as well. If anything...the only thing she knew of...was the stone rejection and the judgment.

And that...is what Thorin saw when he looked into her beautiful eyes that reflected the blue sky.

"Jeanne..." He spoke her name, only her name..and saw those eyes began to spark once more with a chance...a small chance of 'something', 'anything'. "Do not say those words to me...when I have never been so wrong." Thorin's words held a great deal of pressure but what really broke this 'void', was when he suddenly wrapped his arms around her thin body and pulled her close, crushing her in this warmth that smelled of iron and mountain musk.

Jeanne took in a deep breath and her body began to tremble just as much as her heart shook with it. "I don't get it." Her voice cracked.

"You are my responsibility..." he pulled away and looked at her in the eyes. "And I shall see to it that you survive."

Thorin felt like he had no choice but to hold on, fearing that she might just turn to ash right before his eyes. Never in his life had me met someone who was so powerful, think themselves as useless. Never in his life had he met such a bright person hold such a solemn look. He knew it will not be the last, but he never wants to see Jeanne of all people hold such a burden and pain.

Jeanne's eyes fell to the ground. "You don't have to put yourself in harm's way because of me, Thorin."

Thorin sighed deeply and grasped her shoulders. "We are in this together and will fight together." He gave a weak laugh. "And I am proud...that it is with you."

Hope...that is what was beginning to spark in her eyes and it all began with those words...someone being proud of her. Gandalf saw it too, a shift beginning to take place within Jeanne.

Thorin looked beyond Jeanne and saw something in the distance...something peeking above the continuous and dense forest lands. A single mountain.

Bilbo follows his gaze. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Erebor..." Gandalf spoke. "They Lonely Mountain. The last great Dwarf kingdoms of Middle-earth."

"Our home." Thorin breathed.

Jeanne didn't realize but accidentally let a smile slip to her lips. She turned her body away from the group and just took in a deep breath...when her skin suddenly began to burn. Jeanne flinched from the abrupt pain and pulled her sleeves up, seeing gray veins slowly appear under her skin and climb up her arms.

A _voice _began to whisper in her ears once more:** YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME...YOU SHALL NEVER ESCAPE FROM THE FATE AND DARKNESS THAT BINDS US. FOR WE ARE THE SAME. YOU ARE ME, AS I AM YOU.**

Jeanne looked up at the Dwarves with reluctance filling her eyes. She felt all the hot blood drain from her body, and as it started to grow cold, a sharp gasp escaping from her lungs.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**And so we have reached the end of the first installment of Fireborn. I'll keep it brief and tell you the name of the second installment which will be...FROM FIRE TO SMOLDER!**

**I won't post the story right away, gonna give myself a break before going back into the fray. But once the story is up, It'll be a once a week update so be on the lookout!**

**But now we have come to the end of the story so let me say this to you...thank you. Just...thank you. It was a bit of a struggle to get this story finished and be proud of it. But I'm glad, so very glad that I finished! I'm not gonna lie though. It was hard. I was PMed near the end of this story and was told that Sauron being a female was a STUPID idea and was bluntly told that they stopped following because of it.**

**Now I'm not so simple-minded and I know not everyone's gonna like what you write. It's what us writers have to go through if we post things online. It's hurtful though, honestly because not only me, but every writer on this site has put their heart and soul into their stories.**

**But let's not talk about that. Let me say this to you all who have stuck with me to the end. Let me give you the biggest thank you! I am so proud of all of you, especially the reviewers (Hi Jo!). I can't thank you enough and I hope to see all of you soon in the continuation of Jeanne's second story.**


	14. Sequel Is Up

I am glad to inform you all that the second installment of Fireborn is now out. I repeat, From Fire to Smolder is out!


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